


A Place to Hide

by woojaes



Series: nct but add disney [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Frozen (Disney Movies) Fusion, Fantasy, Fluff, Ice Powers, M/M, Magic, Romance, Royalty, Slow Burn, Tangled (2010) References, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22752649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woojaes/pseuds/woojaes
Summary: Somewhere in him, even in the depths of his winter, there was an invincible summer.❆Mark is the heir to the throne of Arendelle with a magic power he hates and can't control. Donghyuck is the son of the leader of the Northuldra, people who live in the Enchanted Forest, and both nations have been at war for generations.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Series: nct but add disney [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602328
Comments: 31
Kudos: 196





	A Place to Hide

**Author's Note:**

> hi, i'm back with a second au! 
> 
> you don't need to have seen frozen or frozen 2 to understand the references here, but this au is a mix of various parts from both movies plus things of my own creation, so it may be easier to picture if you have. there are some song references too, from both frozen movies and tangled, so good luck finding them all.
> 
> also, to note: i tried really hard to respect culture when writing this. the northuldra aren't real but they are based on the sami and other indigenous people and i did do research, but i apologise in advance if there's anything i got wrong. 
> 
> anyway, enjoy. :]

It was at age 6 when Mark found out he was different. He had felt tingles in his fingertips ever since he was a baby and his hands were always colder than any other part of his body, but numerous doctors who visited the castle confirmed that he was perfectly healthy and there was nothing to worry about. Still, it did nothing to ease the minds of his parents.

Mark spent his first six summers in the castle, unable to shake the frozen temperatures from his fingers. 

On his 6th birthday, he woke up in the early hours of the morning to Jeno having a bad dream in the bed next to his. This was something that happened often, but since their parents' bedroom was at the other end of the long hallway, he would simply pad across the floor, climb into Jeno's bed with him, and soothe him back to sleep. 

Jeno would always complain in his sleepy voice that Mark was cold, so he would push himself further under the covers, wrap his arms around Jeno and cuddle him until the chill disappeared and then he would fall asleep himself, and that is how their mother would find them in the morning. 

Jeno was crying in his sleep, so Mark got out of his own bed, tiptoed across the carpeted floor, and pulled back Jeno's covers. As he did so, his fingers brushed against his arm, but the touch seemed to burn Jeno so hard that his eyes shot open and he screamed. Wrapped around Jeno's tiny wrist, where previously there had been only skin, was a bangle made entirely of ice. It had come from Mark's fingers. 

Mark jumped back and stared at his hands. They tingled more than they ever had before, the kind of tingle you get after holding snow for too long. 

"Hyung," Jeno cried. "It hurts."

"I," Mark stuttered and touched the bangle. It did not feel cold to him. "I'm sorry," he said. He didn't know what he was apologising for, because he didn't know how he did it.

Jeno got out of bed and stood in front of Mark, his eyes level with Mark's nose. He was still crying, and Mark reached out to gently wipe at the tear tracks on his cheeks. When he touched them, though, they didn't disappear; Jeno began to cry harder, louder, and Mark realised he had frozen his tears to his cheeks. 

He began to cry himself. "I'm sorry, Jeno!" He exclaimed, but it was too late. Jeno's screams had alerted their parents. They burst in, took one look at the icicles growing from Jeno's eyes and the bangle around his wrist, and both gasped in unison. And then, slowly, their eyes turned to Mark, crying quietly next to him.

"I didn't mean to do it," he sobbed. "I don't know how it happened."

Their mother took hold of Jeno and gently lead him out of the room, presumably to rid him of the ice, leaving their father to console Mark. 

"It's okay," he kept saying, as he scooped Mark into his arms and he cried on his shoulder. But it wasn't okay. He hurt his little brother, and he didn't know how. 

It took Jeno a long time to let Mark anywhere near him again. Each time Mark would approach him to play together like they did thousands of times before, Jeno would step backwards. It hurt him, and each time he would run away and cry to their father. Their mother was distancing herself from him too, but she had never been particularly pleasant anyway.

Mark didn't like sleeping in his and Jeno's room alone. He was accustomed to Jeno's bad dreams in the same way a mother hears her baby crying; ever since Mark was old enough to understand that he had a younger brother, he felt the need to protect him. He was the big brother, he was the brave one. But in the nights that Jeno slept somewhere else in the castle, Mark felt lonely. He concentrated on happy thoughts, and from his fingertips he created a snow cloud which fell and fell, until he created a snowman. 

He didn't name the snowman, because he had melted into the carpet by the time morning rolled around, but Mark kept up the habit of making frozen companions for the rest of his time in the castle. He never once understood why he wasn't normal like Jeno, or their parents, or the servants, and neither could anyone else.

Jeno trusted him again eventually, though nothing quite like before. When Mark turned 13, and Jeno 11, their parents moved them to separate rooms under the guise of them being old enough to have their own rooms; Mark, annoyed at his mother for making decisions for him, sent a snowstorm into their bedroom that night and he was grounded the next day. Not that it mattered. He wasn't allowed to leave the castle anyway. 

Jeno suffered with bad dreams his whole childhood, and even with separate rooms, he sought out Mark instead of their parents. Mark was still scared to touch Jeno despite his insistence that he wouldn't hurt him again, but it was final in Mark's mind. Long gone were the days he would be able to physically comfort Jeno back to sleep. Instead, each time Jeno would have a nightmare he would sit on the end of Mark's bed, poke him over the top of his bed sheets, and they would talk until sunrise. 

Nothing quite like before. 

The only person in the castle who really accepted his powers, was Jeno himself. The workers were told about them under strict confidence that the news would not reach the kingdom. Their father was the most supportive parent, but even he was wary of getting in the way of Mark when he wasn't in a good mood. Emotional outbursts meant ice and snow; Mark could freeze the whole castle if he wanted to, but his mother forced him to wear gloves inside in an effort to warm up his hands and hopefully melt the ice in his bones. 

It didn't work. The gloves only suppressed his powers and made them stronger when he took them off. Clearly, fate had a plan for Mark. He was born with this magic for a reason, though he was yet to find out why. 

The kingdom of Arendelle had never seen the king's two sons. Mark was the heir, and then Jeno after him, but their existence was kept sacred and secret from the town. The townsfolk assumed this was for their own protection; after all, princes lived a sheltered life no matter where they came from, but Mark's mother would tell you it was to protect the interests of Arendelle. Would the townsfolk trust a prince who couldn't control his own emotions? 

Still, the gates were closed, and Mark wore the gloves to make his mother happy. It wasn't perfect by any means, but while he wore them it meant he could touch things without accidentally turning them into ice. He could control it, even slightly.

Conceal, don't feel. Put on a show.

Jeno grew up with a circular scar around his wrist where the bangle burned. It kept Mark grounded knowing that while his powers were fun and he could use them to his advantage, they were also dangerous and very, very real. He had learned fear; his powers grew stronger each and every day, for a reason he couldn't fathom, and the gravity scared him. No one, not even himself, knew how far he could go. 

He never wanted to find out. 

❆

"Your Highness," Renjun said as he knocked on Mark's door. He opened it and peeked his head behind it, eyes searching for Mark. Renjun rarely bothered him; he was a trainee guard, who was assigned to protect Mark, though he worked alongside his senior, Johnny, and since Mark spent so much time alone in his room and certainly never left the castle, they didn't really have much work to do. 

"Renjun," Mark said, turning to face him. "I said to call me Mark." 

Renjun looked a little embarrassed and corrected himself. "Mark," he said. "Your mother asked for you. She has some important news."

Mark sighed. He knew that whatever his mom had to say to him, would probably not be good news. She avoided him most days and even before he really discovered his powers she had never been particularly affectionate. He nodded.

"Thank you, Renjun."

Renjun bowed and disappeared back behind the door, and closed it with him. Mark grew up with people treating him differently because he was a prince, but he never really got used to it. Formalities were unusual to him. 

He met with Jeno at some point in the walk to his mom's room, and it turned out she summoned them both. Whatever news she had for them was obviously big. It made a cloud of apprehension grow over Mark's head and his stomach twitch with nerves.

"Mom," Jeno announced when he entered her room. "You asked for us."

She was reading but at the interruption, she marked her page and placed the book down beside her, closed. 

"Yes," she said. She stood and walked so she faced Mark and Jeno directly. "The castle gates will be opened next Friday." 

This was news Mark did not expect. His eyes widened, eyebrows shooting up into his hairline, and his mouth dropped open into an 'o' shape. Jeno was equally as speechless beside him. 

"Your cousin Taeyong will be having his wedding here," she continued. 

Several months ago Taeyong announced his engagement to Yuta, of Weselton. The marriage would solidify the trade between the two towns. It was arranged of course, purely business, but it was still pretty obvious that Taeyong adored Yuta.

Mark clenched his fingers inside his gloves. He knew exactly what was coming of this conversation.

She spoke directly to Mark, voice low and eyes narrowed. "Absolutely, under no circumstances, are you to lose control. Don't let anyone in, don't let anyone see, be good. As you always have to be." 

Her words sent a shiver of anger through Mark. If he wasn't trying hard to control his emotions, he would have sent sparks of ice out of his fingers by now. He took in a deep breath instead.

"Yes, Your Majesty," he said, dripping with sarcasm. It was snarky, yes, but he smiled right after and she could only frown in response. 

Mark glanced at Jeno from the corner of his eye. He looked like he was holding in a laugh. 

"Jeno," she said. Jeno wiped the smile from his face in an instant. "Keep an eye on your brother."

And with that, she smiled at both of them, though it was far from friendly, and walked out of the door at the end of her room. Mark, frustrated once again, took off his left glove and sent an icy blast in her wake which froze the door handle solid.

It would melt. Eventually. 

Mark put his glove back on and stormed out of the room. Jeno rushed to keep up with him.

"Hyung," he said. "Are you okay?"

"No," Mark shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked and sighed. "She hates me."

"She is scared of you."

"And she should be, but I didn't ask to be born this way! I wish I could control it! She doesn't need to remind me, I know damn well I need to conceal it." Mark kicked the door to his bedroom as he approached it out of anger, and Jeno followed him inside.

"She doesn't underst-" 

"Yes she does, Jeno," Mark interrupted. "I have these powers whether she likes it or not. And her hating me only makes them stronger."

Jeno stopped, bit his bottom lip, and remained silent. Mark knew he knew he was right. 

"Are you excited about the gates being opened?" 

Mark sighed and took his gloves off completely, and lay them next to his bed. He sat on the edge of it, toes gently kicking the carpet. He had calmed from his earlier outburst. He shrugged.

"The gates have never been open. It will be … strange," Mark hummed. 

"Actual real life people. And not just the staff members," Jeno said, but his voice sounded full of wonder and amazement. 

"You could meet someone," Jeno said suddenly. Mark grimaced.

"You could meet someone. I can't, you know that."

Jeno nodded solemnly. "At least we have the chance." 

"You," Mark corrected him gently. 

They sat in silence for a while. Jeno seemed to be thinking of something, but Mark wasn't sure how to ask.

"Don't take what mom said to heart, hyung," Jeno said after some time. "She doesn't mean it."

Mark looked at his hands, flexed the fingers, and balled them both into fists. "She does, but thanks for trying to make me feel better." 

Jeno stood and went to touch Mark's shoulder, but he quickly shuffled away from it. Jeno's small smile faltered slightly, but he was only too familiar with Mark's evasiveness by now. 

He left without another word, though he waved in the doorway, and forgot to shut the door behind him. 

❆

Preparations for Taeyong's wedding began in the morning. Their mother set her sights on the ballroom, and the servants were set to the task of cleaning it. It had not hosted a party in twenty years and looked dull, covered in a layer of dust. The various cupboards and closets around the castle were getting a makeover too, and the display cabinet boasting their family's historic trophies was due to be polished, so each achievement was going to be extra shiny.

It was here, while Mark helped to organise the shelves so they boasted only the most amazing trophies, that he caught a glimmer of engraved gold that spelled out the name of the only other place he knew: The Enchanted Forest. The trophy specifically highlighted his grandfather's talent in fighting against the people who lived in it, the Northuldra. 

For years, ever since he and Jeno were babies, they were warned about The Enchanted Forest and the Northuldra people. These people were greedy, and possessed a magic far greater and more powerful than Mark's. The people of Arendelle and the Northuldra were at war and had been for a long time; Mark had never met a person from the Forest, and he wasn't really sure of the validity of his parents' claims, but he was fearful of ever encountering them. If the stories were true and their magic was stronger than his own, he was no match against them. 

He wiped at the gold on the trophy, took a deep breath, and placed it back on the shelf. It would be his responsibility when he was King, but that wouldn't be for many years. 

Renjun and Johnny tried to tell him he didn't need to help with the cleaning, but he insisted. Deep down, he was excited for the gates to be opened, though his fear was more prevalent than anything. Mark spent twenty years circling the same castle walls that never changed, wondering if there was ever a chance he would be able to see the world outside of his bedroom windows, and he knew Jeno was just as bored and frustrated of being alone as he was. 

"Why couldn't you have cleaning powers?" Jeno complained. He had been helping with emptying some of the closets of two decades of junk.

Mark smiled. "I was born cold, not clean."

"You can't build an army of ice statues or snowmen to help with this?" 

Mark laughed and wriggled his fingers inside the gloves.

"Maybe. When you start sweating." 

Strictly speaking, they didn't have to help. Not when the whole castle was busy with preparations, and the servants were rushed off their feet. But Mark felt guilty watching their servants on their hands and knees trying to scrub the ballroom floor, and he asked his father what he could do to help. 

The wedding was only a week away so their parents really didn't leave enough time to clean the whole castle and set it up in time, even with both princes helping. But Taeyong was his favourite cousin and Yuta was his future husband, so he wanted to help make the day the best it could be.

Jeno wiped a layer of imaginary sweat from his forehead. Mark, smiling, took his right glove off enough to create the bottom half of a snowman, but promptly stopped when their mother poked her head into the hallway, and work resumed instantly. Her eyes narrowed at Mark, but he had put his glove back on and frowned at the floor before she even looked at him. 

Put on a show. That's all he had to do. 

He picked up the next trophy, held tightly onto it, and began to clean. 

❆

Friday came very quickly. Taeyong arrived at the castle on Wednesday, and spent the rest of the week perfecting the details like what colour fabric to decorate the tables with. Yuta arrived the evening before the wedding but he and Taeyong slept separately, at different ends of the castle. 

Mark was woken at dawn on Friday morning by Renjun knocking loudly on his bedroom door. 

"Your Hi-" he stopped, and began again. "Mark," he spoke through the wood. "Time to wake up. The wedding is in a few hours."

His voice was soft. Mark could have easily fallen back asleep if his knocking wasn't so rousing and persistent. 

"Yes, Renjun," he said, voice croaky with sleep, and then the knocking stopped. 

The night had been restless. The winds howled and kept Mark awake for some time and only when they settled was he able to fall asleep, but his dreams were shaky. He woke up clutching his bed sheets which he had covered in a pale white frost in his sleep, and visions of blue, white and silver light crept under his eyelids. In his dreams he lost control and hurt everyone he loved, and it left him feeling anxious and worried long afterwards. He did eventually fall asleep again, but scattered.

Everything was ready for the wedding and for the gates to be opened. That was the part that scared Mark the most. The wedding itself would be fine, it was the party, the socialising. The control. 

He got out of bed, pulled gloves onto his hands, pulled his suit from the hangers, and changed into it in the dim light from the sun. 

There hadn't been a royal wedding in Arendelle since his own parents' wedding, twenty two years ago. His other cousins got married overseas, but Mark and Jeno were not invited. It was only really by chance that Taeyong had managed to persuade the king to hold the ceremony at the castle. 

It was only that Mark lived here that he was even allowed to attend. 

Renjun greeted him out the door with a bow. "Good morning."

Mark nodded to him. "Hi." 

He was groggy and his brain still existed only in the plains of sleep. He made his way to the castle dining room; the set up of this room had always been quite obnoxious, and was Mark's least favourite. It contained one long table in the centre and was guarded by the painted portraits of his ancestors. Being in the room made Mark feel like he was being watched.

He took a seat at the table and waited for the rest of his family members. It wasn't long before Jeno also joined him, dressed in a suit similar to his, and then his mom and dad shortly after. His dad was the first to start to eat, as was custom, then everyone else.

"Mark," his mom said. Mark looked at her. "Take your gloves off today. People will ask questions."

"What? I can't do th-" 

Very rarely did Mark speak back to his mother. She turned on her stern voice, and leaned closer. 

"Take them off. Control it." 

Mark clenched his fingers again and looked down at his food. Only for today. He could feel his hands tingle, but he whimpered in defeat and nodded his head. "Yes, mom."

And truthfully, Mark had been trying to control his emotions. Throughout the week when she had been barking orders he had bitten his tongue and remained silent, but it didn't take much to set his powers off. Even slightest displays of emotion would have his fingers tingling, like a spark inside his skin.

Jeno looked between Mark and their mom, and bit his lower lip. The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife.

Taeyong joined them for breakfast too, but Yuta kept his distance in the castle so they would meet only at the ceremony. He was obviously nervous; he was jittery and talkative, completely out of character for him.

"Hyung, you seem nervous," Mark said as they walked back to Taeyong's guest room together after breakfast. 

Taeyong sighed softly. "I am. I haven't seen Yuta in a week, I miss him. And this is happening today."

Mark nodded. "I get it. But everything will be fine."

Taeyong gently patted Mark on the shoulder and smiled. "Thank you, Mark. I'll see you at the ceremony."

He disappeared inside and Mark crossed the castle back to his own room. The sun began to rise high over the mountains in the distance like a lighthouse and the town awoke with it, excited for the first celebration in over twenty years. 

Two hours later, after Mark's hair had been styled ready and he and Jeno stood next to their parents in the ballroom in preparation, his father nudged Mark gently in the side and pointed to his gloved hands. All three of them watched as Mark carefully pulled each finger out of each glove, and folded them in his pocket. 

Jeno mouthed a very quick "you can do it" to him, followed by a thumbs up, though it did very little to ease the butterflies inside his stomach. The dream he had earlier that morning played again in his mind but he squeezed his eyes shut to force the images out. He would be fine. Everything would be fine. 

Conceal, don't feel. Put on a show. 

Make one wrong move and everyone will know.

"Guards, open up the gates," his father said, and with a sharp tug on the large wooden doors, they swung open. 

Mark chanted a mantra of 'conceal it, don't feel it' over and over again in his head, focussed on the floor. He could do this. It was just a few hours, then the castle doors would be shut again and life would go back to normal. 

He took one long, deep breath to calm himself and faced forward, ready for the guests to arrive.

❆

Taeyong looked stunning, but of course he would; he was the most handsome of the whole Lee family. He wore a white suit with a rose brooch clipped onto the front of the blazer, embellished with silver diamonds on the undershirt and a long belt on his pants that fell down to his thighs. He took the attention of the whole room, and rightly so.

He and Mark exchanged a glance from where he, Jeno and their parents sat in the front row, and both smiled. The guests had been arriving steadily since the gates were opened; Mark kept his hands strictly by his sides, balled into fists, and greeted every single person. Jeno whispered a "you did it" to him just before they took their seats ready for the ceremony to begin.

Mark felt a wave of relief. There were only a few more hours that he had to maintain his facade.

Yuta and Taeyong walked together down the aisle, something of his mother's creation. He too looked beautiful, also in white though his silver waistcoat was decorated with diamond buttons. He was not royal like Taeyong, but he definitely looked like it. 

The two of them stood opposite each other, hands joined together in the middle. Yuta faced away from Mark so he was unable to see his expression, but Taeyong had a loving smile on his face. Seeing it made pangs of jealousy grow in Mark's stomach; he wanted to love and be loved in return, but he would never be able to. 

Since it was a civil ceremony there was no need for a priest, and instead the one and only Arendelle citizen with a marriage licence was invited to marry them. Qian Kun lived in Arendelle his whole life, learned from his own father, and now performed every marriage ceremony in the kingdom. Or so Mark's mother said. He stood in front of the couple, book in hand, and invited Taeyong and Yuta to recite their vows.

During the preparations, Taeyong had written and rewritten his vows possibly hundreds of times. After he arrived at the castle and Mark got a break from helping with the preparations, he sat down with Taeyong in his guest room and they wrote them together until they were perfect. Mark felt giddy in his seat just being able to hear them out loud for the first time. 

Taeyong went first, and recited the words he had clearly memorized in the two days they were written. He spoke with tenderness and made such intense eye contact with Yuta that Mark felt strange watching the interaction go ahead, as if too intimate for public eyes. 

But when it came to Yuta's turn, he hesitated.

"I," he stuttered and for the first time, Mark got a really good look at his face. He was biting his lower lip and he frowned so deeply it created lines on his skin. "Taeyong."

The smile that Taeyong had on his face just moments ago was gone, replaced instead by a look of distress. Mark glanced at Jeno, who looked equally as confused, and his parents, who looked a mix of panicked and angry.

Yuta took a deep breath. "Taeyong, I'm sorry." His voice shook and the audience collectively gasped. "I can't marry you."

Kun looked like he didn't know what to do, and in fact both Taeyong and Yuta looked the same, though Taeyong had the added bonus of looking like he was going to vomit too.

"I'm so sorry," Yuta said, and to his credit, his eyes were full of tears, but Mark couldn't believe Yuta would do this. And on their wedding day of all days.

"I made a promise I would only marry for love," he closed his eyes and took another breath, "and I don't love you, Taeyong, I'm sorry." 

The audience gasped again, though this time it erupted into whispers too. Taeyong's cheeks turned a brilliant red, not out of shyness but instead embarrassment. 

Seeing the hurt on Taeyong's face made Mark's fingers tingle more than they ever had. He tried to force the feelings away, but not without struggle.

"Oh," Taeyong said. What else could he say really? His voice was high pitched and he stared at the floor, too afraid to look at Yuta now. Such sharp contrast to moments ago.

Mark stood up, unable to control himself anymore. 

"You couldn't have told him this yesterday? To save him the embarrassment of being dumped on the wedding day?" He shouted. Everyone turned to stare at him. 

"Mark," his mother warned. He ignored her.

"Or even before all the preparations? To save us the time making the castle perfect for you?" 

"Mark, it's okay," Taeyong tried to say, but again Mark ignored him.

"Or how about before you even got engaged? Why did you wait until now?" 

"Mark, please, you're embarrassing us," his mother pleaded and grabbed onto Mark's wrist to pull him back to his seat. 

Bad idea. From the ends of his fingers came ice sparks so violent they created an icicle that stabbed into the floor, crumbling the marble tiles under it.

For several seconds the ballroom was silent, until Mark gasped and stepped back, pulled his arm from his mother's grasp and ran, out of the ballroom and out of the castle doors completely. Anywhere to get away. His secret had been blown, everyone knew and they would hate him.

Jeno's voice behind him stopped him. "Hyung! Wait!" 

Mark cradled his hands against his chest and whimpered softly. "Jeno, no, I'll hurt you."

"You could never hurt me." 

Mark considered for one moment going back into the castle and up to his bedroom and locking himself in, but the commotion from inside quickly travelled outside too with his mother running out, followed closely by the king, and the townsfolk were able to see everything. 

"Mark, I told you to keep it in! Look what you did!" She exclaimed. It only made Mark's anger grow and he turned around again. With everyone watching, he sent blasts of icy magic in all directions as he ran, away from the controlling parent, away from the disastrous wedding, away from Arendelle and the only place he could call home, even if he hated it. 

Jeno's voice called after him long after he left the town, but he wasn't going back. The past was in the past. He tried so, so hard to keep it in but he couldn't and now, finally, he was free. 

❆

Mark didn't know how long he walked or how far, but when he eventually stopped he had passed the North mountain and Jeno's calls had long since vanished into the distance. The North mountain and the ground around it were cold enough that they had dustings of snow on every flat edge, but Mark felt comfortable. The cold never bothered him anyway.

Ahead of him, the sun shone and he could see that about a mile or so ahead there was no snow. Instead, the tips of the tallest trees Mark had ever seen scraped the clouds and swayed gently in the breeze. He left Arendelle out of fear but really had no idea what he was going to do now he was out, and far enough away that no one would find him for a while. Far enough away that if he didn't survive, no one would know…

Panicked, he shook his head to get rid of the train of thought and continued on into unknown territory. 

He only walked a short while until he reached the trees he saw, but to his amazement they were not lone trees. They framed a forest. Mark had seen photos of the four pillars at the entrance to this forest, though the stories his father told him about this forest were not pleasant. This was The Enchanted Forest, the people who lived within it were dangerous and cruel. 

But Mark had absolutely nowhere else to go, and had not seen even a speck of civilisation since leaving Arendelle behind. He lacked the skills and knowledge to survive alone in the middle of nowhere; he would most definitely die if he tried. He had no choice. He would have to take shelter in the Northuldra camp and pray they did not attack him in the morning. 

Hesitantly, Mark crossed the entrance guarded by four large pillars. They were positioned in a semi-circle and he walked through the middle two, hands by his side ready to defend himself if he needed to.

The forest was silent, for the most part. There were birds in the trees and they looked different to the ones in Arendelle. He stood still, entranced by the sound of their song.

A gust of wind shook the trees and took the song with it, plunging the forest back into eerie silence. Mark took a deep breath and continued on.

A second gust of wind came along; this time it ruffled Mark's hair and clothes, so strong it almost lifted him from his feet. Mark gasped then immediately covered his mouth, fearing the worst. He hadn't seen anyone from the Northuldra yet, but he had no idea where they were hiding, or what kind of magic they possessed. What if they had some kind of enhanced hearing skills to detect intruders?

Not wanting to risk it, Mark took off once again and ran. Further into the forest he went, until he caught sight of what he assumed was some kind of camp up ahead; there was the smell of smoke from a remnant fire, the only sign of life. 

Mark found a tree with a particularly wide trunk and knelt behind it, eyes on the thatched roofs he could see through a gap. This was perhaps too great of a risk, to seek shelter so close to where the Northuldra lived, but Mark had no other option. The outer edges of the forest boasted extremities he knew his body would not handle. He could handle the snow and the ice, but the sun? He stood no chance. His father used to say that the forest was most dense in the middle, giving the Northuldra the shelter they needed from the elements. If it was true, and Mark genuinely wasn't sure if anything his father said to him was, then it made sense to sleep here. 

If he was going to die today at the hands of the community here, well, he was going to die bravely.

He sat and watched for a few moments, hands relaxed at his side.

"Who are you?" A voice sounded.

Mark rose to his feet in an instant with his hands outstretched, ready to fight. The boy he saw in front of him was probably a year or so younger than himself and slightly shorter, but Mark wasn't taking his chances. He wore a white cloth shirt and pants decorated with gold diamonds, and a white hat covered his brunette hair.

"Who are you?" He answered. The boy looked surprised and took a step backwards. Mark realised at that moment that he wasn't armed.

"I'm Donghyuck. My father is the leader of this community. Now," he said, voice turning sharp, "who are you and where did you come from?"

Mark sucked in another breath. "I am Mark, from Arendelle." 

"Arendelle?" Donghyuck took another step back and narrowed his eyes. "Why are you here?"

Mark hesitated for a moment. "I ran away. It was my cousin's wedding and I did something very, very bad and now I'm here." 

Donghyuck stared at him for a moment, eyes still narrowed. Mark felt himself shrivel in intimidation. 

"What did you do?"

"Uh," Mark looked down at his feet. "I have a special power. I can create ice and snow from my hands, and no one in Arendelle knew. At the wedding I accidentally showed my power to the town."

Mark looked up at the end of his speech and Donghyuck looked like he was about to laugh. 

"Magic? Prove it." His voice had dropped the sharpness, and now it was only playful.

Mark held up one of his hands, wiggled his fingers, and several snowflakes appeared one after the other on his palm. He then twisted his wrist and opened his fingers in Donghyuck's direction, and the snowflakes latched above his head and fell, gently, onto his shoulders. 

Donghyuck gasped loudly. "You were telling the truth."

Mark bit his lip. The snowflakes falling above Donghyuck's head stopped and he had a dusting of snow on each shoulder. "I walked here from Arendelle, and I promise you there is no one behind me. I'm not here to fight you. I just need a place to hide."

Donghyuck wiped the snow dust from his shoulders and nodded. "My father will have to decide that, I can take you to see him."

Donghyuck went to grab Mark's arm but he avoided the touch, wary. Donghyuck raised his eyebrows but said nothing, and lead Mark into the camp.

❆

"Father," Donghyuck said as he entered their home with Mark closely behind him. "Father, someone is here to see you. He wants to ask permission to stay here."

Donghyuck moved aside and for the first time, Mark got a good look of his father. He was tall, intimidatingly so, and slender, but from face alone it was easy to tell they were father and son. His father wore the same white clothes and hat; it must be some kind of Northuldra uniform.

"I see." 

Donghyuck's father approached Mark and stared him in the eye. Mark felt nervous.

"Hello, sir. My name is Mark," he hesitated for a moment, "I come from Arendelle." 

His eyes shot up very quickly to face his son. "Arendelle? Donghyuck, do you have any idea what you've done?"

Donghyuck bit his lip softly. "He isn't armed. He isn't here to fight."

Mark nodded. "No, sir. I ran away from Arendelle and I have no intention of going back. I made a big mistake, it cost me my family and my kingdom, but I promise you I'm not going to fight you."

The man stepped back and crossed his arms, eyes still on Donghyuck, obviously somewhat disappointed. 

"You could have put this entire village in danger, Donghyuck! You risked everything by bringing him here!" 

Mark watched as Donghyuck lowered his body and head in a bow to his father. 

"He would die alone in the forest otherwise. If I'm wrong, punish me. But please, let him stay."

The man and his son exchanged looks, obviously communicating in a way Mark did not know, but reluctantly his father gave in.

"Fine. Mark, you can stay. But no longer than two weeks, that's final."

It didn't matter that there was a deadline. What mattered was that he was safe and alive for at least two more weeks; he would deal with leaving when the time comes. The leader of the Northuldra, despite being an enemy, granted him special permission to stay. They were nothing like the savage, power hungry beasts his father said they were.

"He can stay with me. I will keep him safe." Donghyuck smiled softly, though it was soon wiped away by his father's next words.

"It's not him I'm worried about."

The way he spoke about Mark was chilling. His own parents were scared of him, and now Donghyuck's father was also. He tried to smile at him, but he knew he looked anxious. 

"Thank you, sir." 

Donghyuck's father flicked his head. Mark assumed Donghyuck knew what this meant, because he nodded and lead him back out into the forest through the wooden door in their home. 

"I know what you're thinking," Donghyuck said as he walked beside Mark. "But don't worry. With his permission for you to stay, you won't get attacked here. When my father speaks, they listen." 

Mark exhaled softly. It wasn't a thought that crossed his mind, but now that he knew relief washed over him. 

"Thank you," Mark said, truly grateful. "I don't think my magic is a match against yours."

He wasn't sure where they were going within the forest, but Donghyuck stopped and stared at him. "We rely on nature, not magic." 

Mark frowned. His father spoke so badly of the people of this forest and the crimes they committed, but so far he had not witnessed a single bad act by anyone living here. "My father told me so many stories about this forest. About the Northuldra. But I'm not sure which parts are true."

Donghyuck's face softened. They didn't resume walking. "Probably none of it. We aren't magic, the forest is. We just take advantage of it." 

A pause.

"You're the first person I've met with genuine magic." 

Donghyuck's voice grew high pitched with awe and wonder. Mark had not felt so seen before in his life.

"I don't know how or why I have it either." Mark opened his palm and leaned in, blowing on it; again, from his fingers came several small snowflakes that scattered in the wind. A single, lone gust took the snowflakes into the trees.

"Maybe you did something good in a past life to earn it." Donghyuck watched the snowflakes scatter with fascination.

"Or bad, who knows?" 

"Maybe. But it seems more like a blessing than a curse to me." 

Mark shrugged. This was too serious a topic of conversation to have with a boy he just met. 

"Would you like me to show you around? The forest has so many cool things, and I could teach you the history too! Or Northuldran culture if you're interested."

Donghyuck seemed to be the only other person besides Jeno who wasn't afraid of him or worried about the depth of his abilities, just curious. They had only just met, but Mark felt comfortable with him already. He wasn't a spectacle, he was just Mark, plain and simple.

Mark smiled softly and reached into his pocket, grabbed the gloves he had put there before the wedding began, and slid both of them onto his hands. He wiggled his fingers for a moment to adjust. 

"Sure, that would be nice. I promise, in these two weeks, you won't even notice I'm an outsider." 

Donghyuck watched curiously as Mark put on the gloves. "Why do you hide your magic? Especially here, with us."

Mark studied his hands for a moment. "I don't have control over it yet. If I get emotional, it gets worse. The more I try to suppress it, the stronger it gets. The gloves don't really help except allow me to touch things."

"Oh." Donghyuck tilted his head and held out his hand. "So you won't flinch if I do… this?" 

With a touch more gentle than a summer breeze, Donghyuck used one finger to poke the back of Mark's hand, over his knuckles. Mark smiled and looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Did I pass?" 

Donghyuck grinned. "You did, congratulations." 

He dropped his hand, and Donghyuck made no further attempts to touch it. "Anyway, let's introduce you. There are a lot of us. Follow me." 

They set off together towards the first home, Mark at Donghyuck's heels.

❆

The village was quite small, but true to Donghyuck's word, there were a lot of Northuldra people living there. Each home housed the whole family, and he quickly found out that family sizes were large. Donghyuck was an only child, but he had lots of cousins and his cousins had a lot of children themselves, and that was just his family.

"This is where my favourite cousin lives." Donghyuck gestured to the wooden house and instantly his smile widened. "His name is Jaehyun." 

Donghyuck beckoned Mark to come closer and pushed open the door. He didn't knock. Maybe the Northuldra being such a large community they viewed each house as an extension of their own. It was an entirely foreign concept to Mark but he liked it; for the first time in forever, he wasn't alone. 

Jaehyun was dressed in the same white clothes and hat that both Donghyuck and his father wore, only he was taller than both of them and had a much friendlier face than Donghyuck's father. He smiled seeing Donghyuck enter the room and his cheeks created little dimples. 

"Hey, I was wondering when you would stop by. I need your help, one of the reindeers got stuck in the mud." 

Donghyuck made a face. "Oh, again? That's the second time this week." 

"Yeah." Jaehyun caught sight of Mark standing behind Donghyuck awkwardly and tilted his head, looking at him curiously.

"Oh!" Donghyuck moved aside so Jaehyun could see Mark completely. "This is Mark, he's from Arendelle and he can make snow and ice from his fingertips." 

Jaehyun blinked. "Okay, that's definitely not what I thought you were going to say. Hi Mark, nice to meet you."

Mark waved with a sheepish smile. 

"So, reindeers?" Donghyuck looked at Mark and gestured to a part of the woods he had not yet seen. 

Mark tilted his head. "I've never seen a reindeer."

Jaehyun and Donghyuck looked at each other, then back to Mark. Their faces were dumbfounded. 

"What? Have you been living under a rock?" Donghyuck and Jaehyun both chuckled.

Mark shook his head. "No, just a castle." 

They stopped laughing. "A castle? You're a prince?" Donghyuck gasped.

Mark held onto his own hands and nodded. "Yes. But, please just call me Mark. And don't be formal, I can't stand people treating me differently."

Donghyuck and Jaehyun shared one look again and shrugged their shoulders. 

"Fair enough. You get the tail end of the reindeer then." Donghyuck smiled playfully and gently linked his arm with Mark's. 

Mark felt a warmth along his right side like never before, an unusual feeling that seeped right into his bones and warmed him from the inside. It was weird, but not unpleasant. 

It was only when the three of them actually got to the mud where the reindeer was stuck that the feeling began to dissolve as Donghyuck detached himself, approached the reindeer and gently patted it on the head.

"Sven, you gotta stop doing this buddy. You can't go in the mud." Donghyuck spoke to it, though Mark doubted the reindeer was taking any notice.

"Mark, can you push his butt while me and Jaehyun pull him from the front?" 

Mark blinked. "Okay."

This was by far the strangest interaction he ever had with another person, even if his experience was fairly low. He didn't assume for one moment he would ever be in this situation, with both hands pushing Sven's backside while two complete strangers help him at the front. 

Oh, if his mother could see him now. 

With considerable effort and a layer of sweat on his brow, he managed to push Sven enough to dislodge his front feet which helped him to pull himself out of the mud to safety. Donghyuck and Jaehyun did their bit in half the time and barely broke a sweat, to Mark's annoyance. 

On the walk back to the camp, Donghyuck spoke, voice directed towards Mark though he walked in a straight line.

"Are you hungry? Mama's food will be ready soon." 

Honestly, he hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning due to nerves, and then spent the rest of the day walking that the thought of eating slipped his mind. As if on cue, his stomach rumbled. Donghyuck heard it and chuckled. 

"I'll take that as a yes. Good! Some other members of our community go out to hunt and Mama cooks it in a big pot over a fire. And then we all share, no rules, you just eat until you can no longer."

Mark smiled softly. "In the castle we can't eat until my father has started first. Being the king and all, you know." 

Donghyuck looked affronted. "You mean you have to wait? Even if you are starving? I'm glad I'm not a prince."

Mark grinned. "It has its perks." 

Jaehyun walked ahead. Mark and Donghyuck lagged behind while they talked. 

"I get it. One day this whole forest will be under my leadership."

Of course, Mark knew since he was a baby that he was the heir to the kingdom and one day it would be his, but he had never met anyone else in this situation besides his brother (who even then couldn't really understand the pressure, at least not yet). 

"And Arendelle, one day it will be mine. Pretty scary, isn't it?"

Donghyuck stopped at the entrance to the camp and breathed. He looked fondly through the trees at his family and friends, though when Mark turned to look at his face there was worry etched into his forehead.

"The worst thing is the pressure to be the best. My dad, you saw his reaction to you being here. I have a good judge of character, but that's not enough when there's a conflict." 

Mark fiddled with his gloved fingers but shoved them into his pockets after a while.

"My parents shut the doors to the castle for twenty years. The only Arendelle I've seen is the view from the windows. How can I be king to a kingdom I've never actually lived in?" 

The two stood in silence, just watching the movements from the camp through a thin gap. The people in the camp had no idea they were being watched. 

"Mama's finished." Donghyuck said eventually, and he navigated them both into the camp towards the food. The long moment of silence they shared may not have seemed like much, but Mark knew there was some kind of solidarity there. Whatever he felt, Donghyuck probably felt too. And knowing he wasn't alone brought comfort. 

A door opened in his mind for the first time. 

❆

Dinner that night was reindeer meat that some members of the community personally hunted, cooked and stewed over a fire until it was tender, spiced, and then served with vegetables and Mark went back for several helpings before he felt full. 

Mama, as she was called by everyone in the community, was the oldest resident. She was well into her 80s, possibly even her 90s, but still she had prepared, cooked and served food for everyone. Mark and Donghyuck approached and most people seemed curious about Mark and his presence there. Admittedly, since he was the only one not wearing the white and gold clothing everyone else wore, he did stick out like a sore thumb.

Donghyuck's father kept his distance from Mark at dinner and didn't even acknowledge that he was there. He could have been staring right through him. Still, because he didn't launch an attack and because Donghyuck welcomed him with open arms, the rest of the Northuldra did also and he was treated like one of their own, even if they found it hard to conceal their caution. 

But most importantly Mark had a bed for the night and food in his tummy. He was alive. 

The flames on the fire simmered long after the big bowl had been cleared and people retired to the various huts and cabins of different sizes in the area. Some people stayed out after the sun had set, which painted the forest in a soft dark orange. 

"Do you know what Northuldra stands for?" Donghyuck sat with him opposite the low fire, playing with some cotton from his clothing. 

"No, what does it stand for?"

"People of the Sun. It combines our respect for nature and the spiritual." 

Mark hummed, leaned back and closed his eyes, soaking in the last of the sun rays, though by now the sun had disappeared into the horizon but left late evening warmth in its wake.

"The forest is guarded by four spirits." Donghyuck scooted closer to Mark and held out the bottom of his shirt where four gold-coloured diamonds were stitched into the fabric. Mark opened his eyes and watched attentively.

"Earth, wind, water and fire." He pointed to each diamond with his fingers; the middle of the diamond was different for each spirit, a small design representing each element.

"They help us live here and give us protection. And in return we never take the forest for granted, we stay connected to nature and we remember that life wouldn't exist here without them." 

All Mark's life, he was taught to avoid the Northuldra like a plague and taught that their magic was dangerous and cruel. Then, he developed a magic himself and understood his powers to be just as disgusting, just as cruel. 

There was no way he would ever be able to go back to Arendelle, to his father, and believe his words to be the truth. 

"That's … really interesting." Mark smiled and admired the pattern on the shirt. "I didn't know spirits existed."

Donghyuck raised his eyebrow. "I didn't know ice powers existed, but I suppose we both learned something new today." 

Mark chuckled and nodded. "Touché."

They were quiet for a while, watching the fire simmer even more until it crackled as it burned the last of the wood and became ash. The glow of the sun melted into the night sky, now an inky black dotted with small stars. 

"It's getting late, I should show you where you'll be sleeping." Donghyuck lifted himself to his feet and held out a hand for Mark to help him up too. He stumbled a little, which made Donghyuck laugh; it was a bright and cheerful sound, loud in the silent forest since everyone else had gone to bed a while ago. 

They went back to the same cabin from earlier. Donghyuck had his own room in it, probably another perk of being the leader's son. 

He grabbed his bed and dragged it into the centre of the room, but spread the two pillows on it across both sides. It was rather small and really only looked big enough for one person to lay comfortably, but it would have to do. Donghyuck had already done so much for him on the basis of "good character", so he was in no position to complain. 

Mark turned away to give Donghyuck privacy as he removed his clothes and replaced them with shorts and shirt of the same pattern and design. Mark stripped down to his underwear but kept his shirt and gloves on. It was wrinkled now, much unlike how it was that morning when he put it on, but it didn't matter. 

He slipped into bed beside Donghyuck, facing away from him so their backs were touching. He hadn't shared a bed with anyone since before his accident with Jeno, and even back then he was younger and smaller so it was easier to squeeze into a single bed. It felt strange, but not unpleasant. 

"Goodnight," came Donghyuck's sleepy voice behind him. 

"Goodnight," Mark replied.

The steady sound of Donghyuck breathing beside him was enough to lull him into several short, but restless bursts of sleep. 

❆

The forest cockerel crowed loudly at the break of dawn which roused Mark from his unsteady slumber. He spent a few minutes trying to fall back asleep, but each time he felt himself drifting, the cockerel crowed again and again, signalling the start of a new day, so he gave up. 

One of his gloves slipped off his hand in the night, so he woke up to a mattress covered in ice. Donghyuck was not with him and the blanket from the bed was gone, but when Mark stood he found Donghyuck curled on the floor at the foot of the bed, blanket cocooned around him. 

Mark smiled, though he felt a little guilty. 

He stirred hearing Mark walk around and made a sleepy sound while peeking one eye open to look at Mark. The other remained closed, clinging to sleep.

"Wha-sup?" He murmured.

"You're on the floor."

Donghyuck nodded (though it looked more like he just ruffled his cheek against his arm) and yawned. "Cold." 

"Sorry, I froze the mattress by accident." 

Donghyuck squinted at the mattress from his position on the floor and saw that it had been covered in a sheen of ice. "Ousside." 

"Put it outside?"

Donghyuck hummed in response and closed his eyes again. Mark laughed quietly to himself, lifted the thin mattress from the bed and carried it outside to melt in the morning sun. 

Donghyuck had fallen asleep again by the time Mark got back inside, breathing softly with the blanket pulled up to and around his nose. The sight made Mark smile; the whole thing reminded him of when he would cuddle with Jeno and he would complain about cold fingers against his warm skin. Jeno was used to the temperature now, but clearly the chill was too much for Donghyuck.

This was precisely why Mark didn't like sleeping with his gloves on. They nearly always came off anyway, and the longer he kept them on, the more his fingers would tingle from the magic being suppressed for too long. His right hand felt like static, intense pins and needles; he tugged the glove off and flexed his fingers and instantly the tingles stopped. 

He sighed. He felt calm, the calmest he ever had done. All the responsibilities he would normally be waking up to and all the pressures he normally faced, were miles away in a castle and kingdom he was no longer welcome in. 

He tugged his glove back on and borrowed the pants Donghyuck wore, slipped them on over his legs and headed outside into the forest. Mama was awake and preparing more food in the camp. 

"Morning," he said. 

She looked at him and smiled a wrinkly smile. "Mark."

"Can I help?" 

She looked confused for a moment, but patted the space next to her. Mark sat as instructed and took the knife she handed him, and slid the wooden chopping board in front of him. It had two large tomatoes, one halved already, so he began cutting it into smaller chunks while she watched.

"What are you cooking?"

She gestured to a small collection of eggs in a box beside her. 

"Eggs and tomatoes?" 

She nodded and smiled another one of her wrinkly smiles. 

"I haven't cooked before," Mark admitted.

"Ah, I assumed as much." She gently took the knife and chopping board back and held them ready to show Mark. "Like this." 

She cut the tomatoes much neater than Mark had been doing it, and in smaller chunks too (obviously from years of practice); Mark leaned in close to watch.

She handed a raw onion to Mark and told him to peel it, which he did with uncertain fingers. She took it from him with a warm "thank you" and began to chop it, also into small pieces like the tomato, then dropped the diced pieces into a large pot hanging over firewood. 

Suddenly, with magic he hadn't seen beyond his own abilities, the wood caught fire, and fast. As quick as it started it had spread into a roaring flame and crackled as it burned. Mark gasped with wide eyes. Mama's eyes twinkled with amusement.

"The fire spirit," she said as way of explanation. Mark nodded.

"Do you have spirits in Arendelle?" 

Mark shook his head. "Just the king and his wife."

At the mention of the king, Mama frowned and pulled the box of eggs closer to her and began to crack them into the pot over the fire. "Ah, the king. I remember our first and only unfortunate meeting."

"What happened?"

She placed the broken egg shells back in the box. "He came here about twenty or so years ago under the guise of a truce between our nations. We like to keep the forest's magic to ourselves because we protect it as much as it protects us. But the king tried to steal our magic, a long time ago. I have not trusted him since."

Mark's blood ran cold and he frowned. For years he knew of the reputation the forest had with his father, but even when he was a teenager it still seemed rather unfair to label a group of people as greedy and cruel with no basis. His father sought revenge and groomed him to hate the Northuldra too, even when it was he himself who was in the wrong.

"Oh." 

Mark wasn't really aware of the actions of his own family. He was taught to not meddle, that he would be able to use his power when it was time for him to be king. History within the castle boasted their achievements and triumphs, but at what cost? 

"The forest kept us safe, though. And apart from you, no one from Arendelle has entered our land for two decades."

Mark stirred inside the metal pot with a spoon for something to do with his hands, a distraction from the rising anger he felt against his father. 

"I'm sorry that happened." An apology would not do much, really, especially for an event that happened so long ago, but Mama simply smiled and patted his shoulder. 

"Never you mind, Mark. It is in the past. You are welcome here." 

The words were warm on his heart. It was like she knew, deep down, that Arendelle wasn't where Mark was meant to be.

"Mark?" A voice shouted behind him. He turned from stirring the pot, and saw Donghyuck standing just outside of his home searching for him. Mark waved him over.

"Morning. Sorry about last night." 

Donghyuck glanced at the mattress as it thawed and laughed. "No, it's okay. It was funny."

"You can have your bed back tonight. I'll take the floor."

Donghyuck smiled and tilted his head, naturally cheeky. "Just don't freeze it, that might make it hard to walk."

Donghyuck greeted Mama with a hug and kiss to her cheek and sat down beside Mark. "You were cooking?" 

"Well, not really -" 

"Yes, he helped me to cut the vegetables," Mama interrupted. The truth made Mark smile sheepishly and his ears turn red.

Donghyuck peered inside the pot and hummed looking at the contents inside. "Not bad, Mark. Maybe slightly bigger than what I would have done but still, you're learning." 

He spoke with laughter in his voice, absolutely no spite on his tongue. 

"Wake up early tomorrow, then. It's my turn to sleep in." 

Mark gently tapped Donghyuck on the arm, who laughed and did the same thing back to him. Mama watched their interaction with twinkly eyes. 

"Mark, dear, would you be able to get me a pale of water from the stream?" She pointed to an empty bucket at her feet which Mark didn't notice before, so he took it and nodded.

"Of course. I won't be long." 

Mark lifted the bucket and swung it with his arms as he strolled off into another part of the forest. Donghyuck and Mama watched his back disappear into the trees. 

"What's the water for?"

She smiled and ignored the question. "You seem happy this morning."

He laughed softly. "Am I not happy every morning?"

She was silent for a few moments. "I think he is a good person, my dear. You should stay close to him." 

Donghyuck knew who she was talking about, of course he did, but it still made him blush anyway and dip his head down below his shoulders and brush off her words. "Thank you Mama but my father gave him two weeks. He will be leaving soon."

She looked at him. "That means nothing." 

Donghyuck remained silent, biting his lip, while Mama stirred the pot. Mark returned shortly after with the bucket full of water and left it in front of her. She thanked him, but her eyes were on Donghyuck. 

"Okay, well, time for breakfast." 

Donghyuck immediately busied himself grabbing a bowl and scooping out some of the food, his eyes never meeting Mark's though Mark did catch a glimpse of red ears hidden behind a curtain of brunette hair. 

Or perhaps he imagined it.

❆

Mark spent the day with Donghyuck down by the stream with wooden fishing lines stretching into the open, clear water; they sat side by side on the river bank, leaning back to catch the sun rays on their faces. Donghyuck's father had tasked them with fishing for dinner later that evening, so they took off together with empty buckets and bait that Jaehyun had given them. The air was warm and breezy, enough that both boys rolled up the sleeves of their shirts and the legs of their pants as they sat on the grass.

“Is it always this warm here?” Mark moved to lay on his back entirely so this whole front was exposed to the sun. 

Donghyuck chuckled and lay beside him. “No, the winters are really harsh, we ended up migrating south a few years ago. It was horrible.”

Both boys closed their eyes.

“It’s bad,” Mark said.

“What is?”

“That this is the first time I’ve felt sun on my skin. I’ve never felt so warm in my life.”

Donghyuck silently sat up and glanced at Mark’s face. It was flooded with colour, more colour than he had seen so far; it was like the ice inside him had melted just enough. 

“Be careful it doesn’t melt your powers.”

Mark smiled and peeked one eye open so he caught Donghyuck’s eye from his position on the ground. Donghyuck smiled back at him.

“Ah, wouldn’t that be a shame. No more ice. How will I cope.”

Suddenly Donghyuck’s eyes twinkled with childish wonder as if he had imagined something. Mark sat up and tilted his head in curiosity.

“Mark, do you want to build a snowman?”

It was such a small, innocent question, said in a voice that could rival a child at Christmas, could rival Jeno’s own excitement when they were younger; it tugged at Mark’s heartstrings. He felt his lips turn up into a smile, stood and pulled off both gloves. Donghyuck clapped his hands together with a big grin on his lips and stood too, far enough apart from Mark that he could open his arms. From both palms burst two large clouds which began to cover the warm grass in a layer of fresh, soft snow. 

It was not like genuine winter; the warmth of the ground and the air in general made it a little too unreal, but it didn’t matter. Donghyuck watched the flurries with wide-eyed awe that Mark couldn’t help smiling. 

No sooner had the snow began to settle than Donghyuck rolled down the legs of his pants and the sleeves of his shirt and ran straight into it, gathering piles between clasped hands and moulding it into a sphere, then placing the sphere on the ground and rolling it to catch the thicker snow.

"Mark! Make the head!" 

Mark pocketed the gloves, headed out into the snow and began to roll a smaller sphere to go on top of Donghyuck's bigger one. Donghyuck also somehow managed to acquire sticks for arms and black stones for buttons, and disappeared for five minutes while Mark was still patting pieces of snow together in his hands to fetch a carrot from the reindeer food box.

He came back as Mark lifted the head onto the body, so he knelt and pushed the stones into the torso, sticks into the sides and the thick end of the carrot into the face, and stood back to admire their work.

"Whatcha think?" He asked. Mark joined him and looked at the snowman. Honestly, it was a little lopsided and had already begun to melt in the midday heat. He probably could have made a better one himself from his fingers without even having to move, but Donghyuck seemed to like the thrill of actually playing in the snow too. 

"I like it, what should we name him?"

Donghyuck thought for a moment.

"Hans," he said.

Mark nodded, approached the snowman and picked up a branch that had broken on the ground in the chaos. He gripped one end of it and touched the other end to the torso of the snowman. 

"I hereby declare thee, Sir Hans of the Southern Isles!" 

Donghyuck laughed behind him as he knighted the snowman, and he dropped the branch to the ground. To his surprise, the end he had been holding was not covered in ice. 

Maybe a result of over exuberance, he thought. After all, he'd used more power in this moment than ever before.

Before it melted into the grass, the two boys laid side by side and made snow angels with their arms and legs spread over the freezing terrain. 

(They didn't end up catching many fish, certainly not enough to feed everyone, so Donghyuck's father after he found out what they had been doing instead instructed everyone else to eat before they could get whatever was leftover. By that time, all the fish had gone so they were left only with a bowl of vegetables each. 

It was an annoyance, but both remained happy for the rest of the evening. As the last embers of the fire burned to ash and the camp faded into darkness, warmth bloomed under Mark's skin like yesterday, creeping inside his veins and on his nerves. Every inch of him trembled. 

He slept better that night, curled up on the floor with a neighbour's spare blanket wrapped around his shoulders. To his relief, with less room to move, the gloves stayed firmly on his hands so the floor of Donghyuck's bedroom stayed exactly the same too.)

❆ 

Late next morning, when the sun was almost at its highest in the sky, Donghyuck and Mark walked to the fruit orchard with empty wicker baskets. Jaehyun had given Donghyuck a wooden ladder to reach the tips of the taller trees, and it dragged along the ground and made tracks in the grass as Donghyuck lugged it over his left shoulder. He complained of the weight a few times, so Mark walked behind and picked up the end and they carried it together. 

The orchard was a large area a little further north of the stream with thick rows of trees dotted with various fruit, separated by wide paths between them. In the castle, Mark ate fruit every day with his lunch (at special request to the kitchen staff) and it was his favourite part of the meal; walking into the orchard there was a distinct fruity smell, fresh and sweet, and it reminded him of home.

Donghyuck stopped and put the ladder on the ground. “Peaches, cherries and apples,” he said as he pointed to each variety of tree in quick succession, and Mark blinked when he was finished. Donghyuck turned to look at him with a bright smile.

“Let’s get started! Apples first.” 

Mark followed Donghyuck to one of the smaller trees that was just about the same height as him, put his wicker basket at his feet and reached for the first apple he laid eyes on. Donghyuck watched him with a soft expression.

“Twist your wrist and pull. Like this,” he demonstrated with an apple in front of him, which came away from the stem easily, and Mark copied the movement on the apple he grasped. It broke away just as easy as the one Donghyuck picked. 

“It’s easy! We just have to pick the ripe fruit and wash it. And then we take them back to Mama, she uses them in cooking and we can eat them raw too.”

Mark nodded and they began to pick the apples from the smaller trees, Mark just tall enough to reach the ones at the top if he stood on his tiptoes, then when all the ripe apples had gone from the smaller trees they moved onto the taller ones, where they had to use the ladder to reach the top. Mark held the bottom secure into the soil while Donghyuck climbed it; he did so fearlessly, but Mark knew if it was him climbing to such heights he wouldn’t be so calm. 

They moved onto the peaches, which were definitely lighter than the apples and much softer, and the cherries even more so, and eventually their baskets were full of a mix of all three. The biggest challenge was carrying two full baskets and the ladder back to the camp, and they stood and tried different ways of doing it but in the end Donghyuck just left the ladder in the grass and decided they would go back for it later. 

(They didn’t go back for it later.)

They walked to the stream in silence and dropped to their knees on the bank with the baskets in front of them. Mark was the first to pick an apple and hold it underneath the clear, flowing water and rub it to wash off any dirt. 

“You can eat them if you like! But not too many, or we’ll get in trouble again for not doing our job.” Donghyuck giggled and washed one of the peaches, then bit into it right after he pulled it from the water.

Mark smiled softly, pulled out the apple and bit into the red skin. It was crisp and juicy, better than the ones he was used to in the castle. 

Sheltered from the sun by the tall trees behind them casting long shadows over the stream, they laid out on the bank with their legs stretched in front of them, baskets forgotten while they ate. They didn’t talk; there wasn’t much to say. They were happy to stay silent, listening only to the sound of the stream running towards a distant fjord, and birdsong in the branches above.

The wind spirit swept between them, sending back a spray of water that landed on their faces, and it was only after looking at each other’s surprised expression that they began to laugh. The forest seemed to have a wonderful way of making mundane tasks spectacular. There had not been a dull moment since Mark arrived. 

Stone of the peach and core of the apple discarded, left to become scavenger food or compost on the forest floor, both boys pulled the baskets back to their sides, got back on their knees and washed each fruit in turn until their knees were dirty and Donghyuck’s fingers were wrinkly. Mark was too scared to lift his gloves to check if his were too.

It wasn’t long before it became routine for Mark to wake up, do jobs for the community just like everybody else (but always with Donghyuck with him, who was probably there to supervise more than anything), enjoy their company as the day ended, sleep on the floor of Donghyuck’s bedroom and repeat. Every day began and ended exactly the same, just as it had done in the castle also, but something about the forest was different. Every day it became just a little bit more magical to Mark, who found himself fantasising about living there permanently. 

Within the first week and halfway into the second, he’d almost forgotten what life was like on the outside. 

❆

The cockerel did not crow the next morning until much later, so when Mark roused he felt well-rested. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The bedroom was silent and bright from the sun; a quick glance at the bed showed Donghyuck had already left, but he had left some clothes for Mark near his head.

There was the smell of cooking again coming from outside, and when Mark had dressed he peeked out from the door to find a lot of people (Donghyuck, his father, Mama and Jaehyun included) sat eating from bowls and talking amongst themselves. It was Donghyuck who spotted Mark first and waved him over.

"Hey," Mark said as he approached.

"Morning. Your hair," Donghyuck said with a smile and immediately his hands were on Mark's hair, flattening it from where he had been sleeping. Mark stood still, unbreathing with red ears from Donghyuck's proximity. 

Jaehyun, Mama and Donghyuck's father all watched the interaction with various expressions. 

"Ah, thank you." He bit his lip.

Donghyuck took his hands away when finished and smiled. "That's better. Get some breakfast, Mark, we have a busy day today." 

As quickly as he rose to his feet to style Mark's hair, he had placed his bowl on the ground and skipped off back to his home. Mark watched him leave, speechless and with a bewildered expression. 

Jaehyun looked like he was trying to stop himself laughing.

Mark carefully served himself some breakfast and sat beside him. 

“So what is it that we’re doing today?”

Jaehyun took a bite out of his eggs. “Well,” he said. “Tomorrow is our sundance. We do it every year in summer and we have music, dancing, food, you name it. It’s a big thing, we all get involved.”

“So we prepare for it?”

"Yeah! It's fun, you and Hyuckie are helping to harvest the vegetables from the patch and bring the reindeers into the fields here." 

Mark nodded while Jaehyun finished his food and placed his bowl on the ground. "Me and Taeil and Jungwoo are fishing." 

"You'll probably do a better job than us." Mark smiled and Jaehyun did the same, slyly. Donghyuck and Mark’s antics last week were well known.

"Probably. We mean business." 

Mark ate in silence after that, and before Jaehyun left he patted Mark on the shoulder leaving him alone with Mama and Donghyuck's father, though he may as well have been invisible considering he did not acknowledge him at all.

Mark left shortly after and went to get dressed for the day ahead; Donghyuck was waiting for him, kicking his feet into the grass as he sat on the edge of the step. 

"We get to pick the vegetables and herd the reindeers today. And then tomorrow morning, that's when the real fun begins!" He seemed excited, and the mood was so infectious it made Mark excited too. He had no idea what a sundance was, though he guessed it was some kind of dance celebration with good food and good company. In any case, Mark was giddy and the seemingly unstoppable grin on Donghyuck's face amplified it.

He quickly dressed and they met outside again, and Donghyuck led him to the vegetable patch with their arms linked.

It was a little strange to him that Donghyuck was so touchy today, but perhaps there was simply a cultural difference; perhaps the Northuldra were just physically affectionate people and it was second nature to him. If Mark was honest with himself he didn't really mind it, it was just unfamiliar. For much of his life he had been scared to touch and be touched by anyone else, even Jeno. To have someone touch him so naturally and fearlessly, he liked it.

While they picked the vegetables and threw them into the bucket, they didn't speak much but it was a content and comfortable silence. Luckily they had come out before the heat of the day, so by the time it got really hot, they would probably have moved to the more sheltered reindeer herd in the west. 

"I don't know if Jaehyun told you," said Donghyuck as he pulled handfuls of carrots from the soil. "But it's actually my birthday tomorrow… the sundance always falls on the same day each year." 

Mark stopped pulling on the stem of an onion and blinked. "Oh! Happy birthday for tomorrow!"

Donghyuck dropped the carrots into the bucket and smiled. "Tomorrow night, we send up paper lanterns in the sky, lit by the sunset. Just like we do on my birthday each year."

"For you? Or is it part of the sundance?"

"A bit of both. When I was born on the day of the sundance, the whole community sent lanterns up into the sky. I'm their heir so I guess they saw it as a celebration. So now we have been doing it for the last nineteen years." 

Mark tugged hard on the stem and pulled the onion from the earth. "That's … really nice. On the day I was born the castle had fireworks, but it's ironic because I never got to see them, and they have never done them since."

Donghyuck pulled the last of the carrots from the ground and dropped them into the bucket. "So what do you do on your birthday?"

Mark shrugged. "Nothing, really. I just … get to have extra food at dinner." 

A pause while he dropped the onion into the bucket.

"So you have never had a party?"

Mark shook his head, and it made Donghyuck look bewildered.

"I would assume princes get special treatment on their birthday." 

Mark smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders again. "My brother does, but he wasn't born like me. He's the prince my parents want." 

Donghyuck looked at him, something akin to sympathy in his eyes. Mark gently shook off his concern.

"I lived with it my whole life, it's fine."

"It's not fine, Mark." Donghyuck crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn't intimidating, but Mark assumed he wasn't trying to be. "You don't belong there, at least not locked away inside."

Mark stayed silent.

Donghyuck slowly walked towards him now that his vegetables had been picked, bucket in tow. Mark picked up his bucket too, filled to the brim with his vegetables, and together they walked back to the camp, side by side. 

They dropped the two full buckets in the camp, sat down for a few moments under a tree to shade from the high late morning sun, then wiped their brows and headed west to the reindeer herd. 

When they arrived the sun was almost in peak position and this part of the forest had almost no shade; the trees stretched higher here than at any other part Mark had seen so far and they were spindly and thin so any shadows they created on the ground were only small, sparse circles. 

The reindeer were lucky as they had long troughs full of water to feast on, plus there was a giant mound of carrots in various stages of consumption. 

"Why do you keep so many?" Mark asked.

"Some of them are pets. Sven is my reindeer so no one is allowed to hunt him. But others just grew with the herd. We've lived here for a long time, there are as many generations of reindeer here as there are humans." 

Donghyuck approached Sven and patted him on the side, who made a gentle huff sound in response. He spoke to him fondly, like anyone would speaking to a pet.

"Sven, buddy, it's time for the herd. Let's get going, before it gets too hot." 

Sven made a noise and butted his nose against Donghyuck's arm and Donghyuck chuckled and patted his head between his antlers. 

"Why do you herd them anyway?" 

"For their protection. Normally people work out here 24/7 on a rotational basis to keep them secure but we will all be at the festival. So we just bring them closer to the camp, and take them back in the morning." 

Mark watched Donghyuck and Sven with a warm expression. 

"And also the air spirit pushes the paper lanterns to the west, so we clear it just in case." 

Mark nodded, and when Donghyuck took his fingers away from Sven's head he straightened up and posed ready to be herded. 

The task was simple: hook the leash around each of their necks and pull, taking several reindeers at a time to lead them back to an area just outside the camp. The actual experience, in Mark's opinion, was slightly different. It seemed there was a natural knack that Donghyuck had for communicating with the reindeers that Mark did not; each time he tried to attach the leash around the neck, the reindeer in question would struggle against his (admittedly, rather weak) restraint and trot away. Donghyuck observed this happen to the first four reindeers he tried this on, only to throw the leash to the ground in frustration, and it was only then he smiled gleefully and began to help.

The key, it seemed, was to talk to the reindeers in a voice just like one would talk to a child. Donghyuck did this easily but Mark felt a little silly so he left this up to him, and finally after all the reindeers they could take had a leash around their necks, they tugged hard and lead them back to the camp, together. 

They had to do this at least another four times until there were only four reindeers left to be herded, Sven included, so Mark stood by and let Donghyuck talk to the reindeers again and then they each took two reindeers, pulled the leashes hard at first and lead them back to the camp where the others were gathered. This area was already equipped with more carrots and water so after the last reindeer was in place, the two collapsed on the warm summer grass and took long, deep breaths. 

"I do this every year but I forget how hard it is." 

Mark whined softly and rubbed at his wrists where he had been pulling. "You found it hard? Good to know I'm not just weak this time."

Donghyuck laughed softly, slowed his breathing, closed his eyes and basked in the summer sun. 

"Please tell me it's not us bringing them back." 

Donghyuck laughed again and shook his head; it made a sound on the grass. "No, that's someone else. We get to rest."

Time slowed and they stayed there for a while. The bustle from the camp filtered through the trees as white background noise that lulled them both into a half-slumber, but louder noise from the camp woke them up easily.

"I wish I could have brought my brother here. He would like it."

Donghyuck turned his head to look at Mark, though Mark's eyes remained closed so he stared at his side profile. "Do you miss him?"

Mark sighed. "Yes. He's my best friend." 

Donghyuck bit his bottom lip, hesitating. "Maybe things in Arendelle will be different now you've had the chance to escape." 

Mark shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe." 

Donghyuck turned his head back to look at the sky. "You're an adult now. You're the future king. And they know you're magical now. They can't be scared of you forever." 

Donghyuck paused. 

"And you have your brother. He's not scared of you. You're not dangerous."

Mark opened his eyes and lifted his hands in front of his face. The white fabric of his gloves shined in the sunlight. His hands tingled beneath them like always, but less noticeable. He carefully tugged them off, fingers first. 

"I'm not dangerous." Mark repeated. 

There wasn't an epiphany, really. It wasn't a sudden realisation, but more like he finally felt like it was okay to acknowledge it. He had never intentionally hurt anyone, and the only time he ever had was when he was a child and terrified of that power. He hadn't hurt anyone here in the forest and the people accepted and trusted him like he was their king. 

He had realised in his time away from Arendelle that negative emotions made his powers more dominant, but the happier he felt, the weaker they became. They were a part of him and he could never get rid of them entirely, but he could learn to develop them, control them and eventually, embrace them. 

He placed the gloves on the grass and flexed his fingers. They did not ache; instead, for the first time, he felt normal. He had always been a fortress with secrets hidden deep, but unearthed, he was unafraid.

Donghyuck watched the reality dawn on Mark's face and smiled softly from next to him. "No more gloves?" 

Mark shook his head and turned to look back at him, equal smile on his face. "No more gloves. Maybe at night, though." 

A chuckle. "Ah. No frozen mattresses." 

There was a twinkle in his eye, something that was playful and endearing, and Mark focussed on it. Donghyuck and the rest of the Northuldra were beacons of warmth and light that helped him find the answers he needed, and he cherished his experience here. 

"I think Mama finished making lunch. Should we get some food?" 

Donghyuck stood up and held out his hand. For one small second, Mark hesitated to grasp it now he had taken off his gloves. There was a want deep within him to put them back on, but then Mark glanced up at his face. He was smiling, patient. He nodded once, as if he could read Mark's apprehension. 

"It’s okay, you aren't dangerous. You won't hurt me."

Mark held up his hand and breathed in, and carefully connected their palms, skin to skin.

And nothing.

There were no sharp shards of ice, no snowflakes, no jumping back from the chill. Just touching, and Donghyuck was completely unharmed.

He pulled him to his feet and their hands disconnected. "See? I'm fine. You're fine."

Mark nodded, surprising himself. He did it. He touched another person with his bare hands. 

A smile broke out on his face and Donghyuck mimicked it. In fact, Donghyuck beamed. The look he gave Mark was one of pride and admiration. 

"Let's get some lunch before all the meat is gone." 

Donghyuck began to walk first and Mark followed him, still in a daze. 

Preparations for the sundance continued well into the evening for the people who had more strenuous jobs to do, but for Mark and Donghyuck it meant they got to sit around the fire for longer talking to Mama and some of the others while waiting for the sun to set. The atmosphere was abuzz, probably because everyone knew of the festivities coming in the morning, so it seemed everyone was in a good mood. Donghyuck's father ignored Mark but ignoring him meant he wasn't airing his suspicions, so Mark was okay with it. 

After dinner, long after the sun had set and the sky twinkled with thousands of tiny stars, they retired to Donghyuck's bedroom, Mark slipped gloves back on his hands, and he curled up in his usual spot: on the floor at the foot of the bed. 

Donghyuck sat up in bed, fiddling with his thumbs for a few moments before he spoke. "If you get cold… you can come back. To bed I mean. You don't have to sleep on the floor."

Mark smiled and sat up too so he could peek at Donghyuck from his position. He didn't get cold, and Donghyuck knew that, but he didn't have the heart to tell him. 

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

Before he laid back down on his mattress, Donghyuck gave him a smile, visible only by the pale light of the crescent moon through the wood. Mark gave him one back, but he wasn't sure if it could be seen. 

"Goodnight, Mark." 

Mark laid down and tugged the blanket up around his shoulders. "Goodnight, Hyuck." 

❆

Mark jolted awake to Donghyuck singing at dawn. He wasn't trying to hide it; he was unashamedly loud, but what surprised Mark the most was that he was good. As a child, he learned how to sing when his parents hired a personal piano teacher for him and Jeno who also knew how to sing, and he ended up giving Mark lessons on the side. His name was Doyoung and he had the most beautiful voice Mark had ever heard, in his seven years in the castle.

He remembered begging to hear Doyoung sing at the end of each lesson, and Doyoung would only decline once or twice before he gave in to Mark's childish pleads. 

The singing that awoke Mark was similar, on par with that beautiful voice from his childhood, but different. It was warmer, full of sunlight just like everything else about him. It created tingles that surged not just through his hands but through every nerve in his body. 

After Mark dressed and went outside, he followed Donghyuck's voice to the campfire. Most of the Northuldra were still asleep, probably why Donghyuck felt confident enough to sing so proudly. He noticed Mark instantly when he walked into the campsite.

"Happy birthday," Mark said. 

Donghyuck beamed. "Thank you."

"You sing?" 

Donghyuck looked a little flustered, though with the volume of his voice when he sang it was difficult to understand how he was so shy about it. "Yes, sometimes. I'm not very good on my own, but I like doing it."

Mark sat down beside him and shook his head. "Are you kidding? You have a great voice." 

The compliment seemed to fluster Donghyuck even more. 

"Well, thank you." 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the birds chirp in the trees above them. The air spirit flew between them and ruffled their hair and clothes and Donghyuck chuckled softly. 

"You're awake early." 

Donghyuck shrugged. "I got excited, I couldn't sleep."

It was such an innocent statement, said in the same voice he had asked Mark to make a snowman in. He felt himself smiling before he could stop it and his heart started to glow beneath his chest.

"We start the sundance when the sun is highest in the sky. And it ends with the lanterns tonight."

Mark smiled. "I can't wait." 

For the first time since he arrived, there were no jobs to be done. Everything had been meticulously prepared yesterday so all the community had to do was enjoy it, and as they all gradually woke up and joined the boys around the dead campfire (each person wishing Donghyuck a happy birthday, which just elated his mood even more) the nicer it felt to have a morning to relax. There was no breakfast since the sundance was a celebration of food, music and dancing, so the only person actually doing anything productive was Mama who began to cook early, ready for the festivities to start.

When they did actually start several hours later, Mark was instantly amazed. 

The Northuldra thrived off tradition and it was clear they valued the significance of this festival since they took immense pride in it. Mark watched, fascinated, as everyone placed one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them while standing in some sort of circular, sun-shaped formation, and began to chant. The chant was a beautiful mix of sounds he had never heard before; some of the women with soprano ranges sang higher notes, while the men sang in baritone or lower, creating perfect harmony with each other from years and years of practice. 

It sounded to him like several na-s but he knew there was a meaning to it. It was captivating, with each person's voice blending so well that if anyone was missing, it wouldn't have sounded the same. 

Mark focussed on Donghyuck in particular. He had his hand on Jaehyun's shoulder and his eyes closed, and now Mark had heard his individual voice he wanted desperately to hear it again but even in a chorus with others he, and his voice, shone through. 

The whole forest seemed to glow at that moment, as if their song had awoken a hidden fifth spirit he didn't know about. And even though the sun was visible and at its highest in the sky, it could have been night time with how bright they were, combined with the natural light. 

At the end of the song, finished by a stomping of boots on the hard soil, they all opened their eyes and disconnected from each other, and that's when Donghyuck surged forward to Mark, almost taking him off his feet.

"Did you like that? The song summons the sun, and now we celebrate!"

Mark's icy heart melted just a tiny bit.

"It was amazing," he said. "I loved it. Really."

Donghyuck grasped Mark's hand, the first time he had ever done so and their second time touching without his gloves, but still the feeling was surreal. He had not felt skin other than his own in so long. While Mark stared at their joined hands, Donghyuck dragged him to the campfire where all the food was finally ready, and Donghyuck took his hand away only to grab a bowl and start serving himself from the array of food on offer.

Mama had clearly worked hard on this buffet of meat, fish, vegetables and some other things Mark hadn't seen before. His tummy rumbled; he picked up a bowl and joined the line of people right behind Donghyuck. 

They sat together as they ate, shoulders brushing, in comfortable silence. 

After the food (and there was so much of it that both boys went up at least four other times for refills, eating until they were ready to burst) there was music, consisting of instruments and singing, and lots of dancing. Mark felt like he would explode if he moved, but Donghyuck leapt to his feet the second the music started and began to dance in the middle of a circle that had formed, taking everyone's attention.

Mark watched with a smile on his face, unable to resist. This was the happiest he had ever felt. 

Donghyuck did not seem to care that his movements didn't match the others'; in fact, he seemed proud of it, and everyone else didn't seem to mind either as they all laughed and cheered as he danced. Mark couldn't take his eyes off him. Even if he had tried, Donghyuck's dancing took up so much room he would have a hard time ignoring him.

The song ended and another began. Others continued to dance under the heat of the sun, but Donghyuck joined Mark at his side again.

"Do you dance, Mark?"

Mark rubbed his nape. "I had to learn, royal protocol. But I'm not very good."

Donghyuck raised one of his eyebrows. "That sounds like a challenge."

Mark balked. "Oh, no! I don't even know the steps!" 

Donghyuck was on his feet again in an instant, tugging on Mark's hand with considerable force. Mark whined softly.

"There are no steps! Just go with it." 

Mark hesitated. Donghyuck clearly saw his anguish, softened and spoke in a quiet voice. 

"I can guide you, if you want. And we can go in the middle so people on the outside won't see us."

Mark tried to say no, he really did. But his reasoning for finally agreeing was that it was Donghyuck's birthday and dancing with him would make him happy so Mark nodded with a smile and followed him into the crowd of people. 

And Donghyuck did exactly as promised and led the dance. He took hold of Mark's hands and spun him and his smile, wide and infectious, made Mark smile too and while he was a little off beat, it didn't matter because everyone else was too, and instead of embarrassment, he felt only pure, unrestrained joy. Soon he relaxed enough to actually enjoy the dance with him and they skipped around each other and other dancers with ease, both laughing. 

The music didn't stop; in fact, it only grew in volume and more people joined in with instruments and singing, spurred on by the happy energy. Mark's legs began to ache and he became out of breath too quickly, but Donghyuck danced and danced and danced, so Mark did too. A circle formed around them at some point until the children of the camp decided to join them in the centre of it, and as that song came to an end Mark collapsed against the nearest tree trunk, feeling lighter than air.

"I've never danced so much in my life." He panted. Donghyuck leaned next to him on the same tree trunk, also breathing heavily, a sheen of sweat on his forehead and his cheeks pink. 

"I told you it's fun!"

Mark's grin grew wider and he gently knocked arms with Donghyuck. He nudged him back and hummed softly.

"Thank you for letting me stay here," Mark said suddenly. 

Donghyuck looked at him from the corner of his eye. "It wasn't my decision. But you're welcome. I could tell you were a good person the moment I saw you." 

Mark's grin softened into a smile.

"Then thank you for that." 

Mark wasn't sure why he felt sentimental all of a sudden; perhaps the heat had gotten to his head, or maybe it was happiness that had him looking through rose glasses. It didn't matter. He was elated and higher than high. Somewhere in him, even in the depths of his winter, there was an invincible summer.

Donghyuck was looking at him when their eyes met. "Then you're welcome. Again."

❆

Celebrations continued all day, into and beyond the sunset. The food had all gone so the fire simmered down to smoke, but the music and singing and dancing lasted the longest. Mark's legs and lungs burned from so much of it, and finally when the music did stop he slumped on Donghyuck's shoulders, unable to lift himself up. Donghyuck patted his head but didn't try to push him away, so he stayed there for a while. 

After the sun had set and the stars twinkled like little diamonds in the ebony sky, everyone gathered on a hill that overlooked the river with Donghyuck and his father a little further forward, facing the crowd. The moon created a spotlight on the two of them so their tanned skin had a pale glow that made them look otherworldly from a distance. For once, his father was smiling but it paled next to Donghyuck's grin which was as infectious as they come; it was warm and real and bright, and looking at it filled Mark with a feeling he had never felt before.

"Donghyuck, my son," his father began. His voice echoed off the trees. "Happy birthday."

Everyone began to clap. His father grasped the first paper lantern and Donghyuck reached for a second one.

"And my late wife, Iduna, I miss you very much."

This was something unexpected to Mark. In the time he spent here Donghyuck had not once mentioned his father having a wife, or himself having a mother. It struck Mark that he also never asked.

"Oh," he said aloud to himself. No one heard.

"You have been gone 19 years, and I think about you everyday." 

Then, together, Donghyuck and his father took their lanterns, lifted them with both arms into the air and with a push, they both let go at the same time. The lanterns floated up, almost at the same height. People in the crowd around him began to push their lanterns up too so they also floated; within minutes, the forest was filled with hundreds of tiny orange lights, like fireflies on a summer night.

Mark hadn't touched a lantern, but when one floated towards him he grabbed it and gently pushed it back into the air. Donghyuck caught his eye, still with the same grin on his face, and as the orange reflected on his skin it made him look more beautiful than ever. 

All at once, everything was different. The air spirit brushed through Donghyuck's hair and clothes and the water spirit jumped out of the river behind them in the form of a dolphin, creating a small splash as it disappeared back under. Donghyuck laughed. 

It did something to his insides. He had not felt nervous around Donghyuck at all, only acceptance and happiness, but hearing how delighted Donghyuck sounded made his stomach weak and his breath catch in his throat.

Mark spent a lot of time in his childhood reading. He loved the escapism, the thrill of disappearing into fantasy worlds for hours at a time. Reading was more fun than being harassed by his mother and he could dream about what life would be like if he wasn't born to royal parents, if he wasn't born in Arendelle, if he wasn't born with magic. He envied the life of the characters he loved because even if they were normal, they got to go on special adventures, meet other people and feel things he never could. 

He had read every book in the castle at least once, from historical to fantasy to crime to non-fiction and more, and these same feelings were described in almost all of them.

Mark couldn't freeze this moment, but he wished he could.

The world shifted. He had been staring, something that had not gone unnoticed by Jaehyun stood next to him. 

"Talk to him," Jaehyun said. 

"About what?" 

Jaehyun nudged him with a playful smile. "About that epiphany you just had inside your mind. It's all over your face."

Mark blushed softly and turned his head away. He was not ready to have that conversation. Jaehyun laughed but nudged him again, this time gently.

"Hey," he said. "Opportunity only knocks on open doors, Mark. I think you should tell him."

Mark stayed silent. Jaehyun hummed, latched onto the arm of the girl beside him and rested his head on her shoulder. Mark looked at them for a moment; they were clearly happy, because every few seconds she would turn her head and smile at him and they shared a quick kiss in the time Mark watched them. 

The same envious feeling he got from reading about his favourite characters began to rise up in his gut, but it wasn't unpleasant or longing. The only other time in his life he felt like this was at Taeyong’s wedding, blood surging with jealousy at the kind of love he thought they had.

He didn't know what to do in this situation. Before coming to the forest it was Jeno who was going to meet someone, not him. It was never in Mark's plans, but then neither was exposing his secret to the kingdom in the first place. 

Mark closed that door in his mind. It could wait. 

❆

"Did you have a good birthday?" 

They were in the dark of Donghyuck's bedroom. Donghyuck took his bed as usual and Mark the floor, but they both felt too awake to sleep for a while.

"Yeah. The best day ever!" 

Mark sat up and looked over. Donghyuck had curled up, and was smiling widely into his pillow. Mark smiled too.

"It was really fun. I really enjoyed it." 

Donghyuck looked at Mark from where he lay with his cheek pressed in the pillow.

"It beats parties in Arendelle?" 

He laughed softly and nodded. 

There was a beat and then Donghyuck spoke again. "I think I would like to visit." 

Mark shifted so he sat in front of Donghyuck's bed and rested his chin on his hand on the mattress, level with Donghyuck's face.

"Why?"

Donghyuck hummed. "You've seen my home, now I would like to see yours."

Mark chuckled. "Mine? Life in the castle is very different."

There was another beat where they were both silent, lost in thought. 

"I can't imagine being a prince and coming here. It must be so small compared to what you're used to." 

Mark shrugged with a hum. "It's not that bad. The castle always felt small to me anyway." 

"Yeah. The forest feels small to me too sometimes. I wonder what the world looks like outside of it."

Mark picked at a loose thread on the cotton blanket covering his lap. 

"My mom was a big dreamer, apparently. She too wanted to see life outside of it." 

Mark bit his lip gently, hesitating. "How did she… you know?" 

Donghyuck brushed his hair with his fingers, eyes sparkling. 

"Giving birth to me."

"Ah," Mark drew in a breath. "I'm sorry."

Donghyuck shook his head. It made a soft sound on the fabric. "It's okay, I never knew her. And I was raised by everyone here, so I didn’t feel the loss. I still have a family." 

Mark pulled out the loose thread and dropped it to the floor but said nothing else and warm silence engulfed them again. Donghyuck's eyes closed and it was obvious that he had fallen asleep by the way his breathing slowed after a few minutes.

Mark's face was only inches from Donghyuck's, and to avoid embarrassing himself he really should have moved from the bed back to laying completely on the floor. His excuse for not doing so was the need for a comfortable headrest, and the fact that moving might've woken Donghyuck up. He leaned his head to one side so instead of resting on his chin he rested on his cheek, and closed his eyes too, falling asleep to the steady breathing and gentle breeze outside. 

❆

Both boys slept through the cockerel in the morning, exhausted from two long days. Somehow in the night Mark's hand migrated towards Donghyuck’s and the tips of their fingers touched and when he did finally wake up, he felt momentarily embarrassed by their proximity, but missed it when he shuffled away and reclaimed his spot on the floor. 

Donghyuck had mentioned not needing to wake up to herd the reindeer, so he curled up and closed his eyes again and slept some more until the sun streamed through the window and lit up behind his eyelids. 

Donghyuck had only just woken up himself; he sat up in his bed and was rubbing his eyes and Mark sat up also, yawning.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning," Donghyuck said in a soft voice still in the depths of sleep.

"How did you sleep?" 

"Like a baby," he said.

Mark chuckled and stood up completely, folding the blanket and placing it on the pillow. Donghyuck whined softly and got out of bed too, but reluctantly.

Together they headed out into the camp, enticed by the smell of breakfast (which today was a mix of leftover meat and vegetables) though they were stopped by Donghyuck's father as they approached the fire. He had the same stern face he always did.

"Today the two weeks are up," he said. In all the excitement of the sundance and Donghyuck's birthday both of them had forgotten about the deadline, and the thought that he had to go today made Mark's heart suddenly thump in his chest.

"Mark, you must leave today. You have one hour."

Donghyuck instantly protested. "You can't do that!"

He was physically smaller than his father, who loomed over him. 

"Donghyuck, be quiet."

Donghyuck was silent for a beat, but his facial expression was defiant. "I trust him. Everyone else here trusts him."

"That is exactly why I'm banishing him, it's too dangerous. I said two weeks. My word is final." 

He walked away before Donghyuck could argue anymore. Mark had almost no dealings with him but he knew he was a man of his word; he meant what he said and within the hour he would have to leave forever.

He looked at Donghyuck, whose facial expression had changed to a mix of angry and upset. 

"How dare he! Why can't he understand?"

"It's okay." Mark tried to reassure him.

"You're not dangerous! I thought by letting you stay he would see that." 

In truth, Mark was just as upset as Donghyuck; in two weeks he had made friends he would never forget and learned skills and knowledge he never would have done if he stayed sheltered in the castle. He didn't want to leave any more than Donghyuck, but there was no changing his father's mind.

"It's okay. I'll go back to Arendelle."

Donghyuck was visibly angry and he frowned so lines embedded on his forehead. He looked at Mark and sighed softly. 

"You can see your brother again." 

Of course. The only good thing about leaving the forest was finally being able to see Jeno again, and with control over his powers he would finally be able to hug him too. It was a silver lining. He wasn't happy but he missed Jeno deeply and that was the only reason he was returning. 

Jaehyun's words from last night rang in his mind. Opportunity only knocks on open doors. He had so much to say to Donghyuck, not just about his feelings but also his gratitude for helping him realise many things about himself he otherwise would've ignored. Thanks to Donghyuck he had learned to control his magic, learned that he wasn't the monster he thought he was and learned that he could let people in. He didn't have to shut people out and slam doors; he was the future king, and he'll be damned if he was going to let Arendelle be scared of him. He would prove his worth to them, one way or another.

But he only had one hour. And after the hour was up and he left the barriers of the enchanted forest, there was a high chance he would never see Donghyuck again. There was no chance of developing a further friendship, or possible relationship with him. After the summer, the Northuldra would probably migrate south and he would stay in Arendelle, possibly forever. Their paths would simply never cross. 

The only influence he had over his father was being able to say that he was a liar: the Northuldra were nothing like the evil, vengeful people he grew up believing they were. The only thing he could do was tell the king he no longer believed him and tell the kingdom the truth. The people deserved to know that the feud with the forest was superficial, based entirely off of greed and envy. 

So Mark said nothing, held his hand out for Donghyuck to shake, and together they walked to the four pillars guarding the exit for the final time where they said goodbye while the sunlight illuminated everything in sight.

❆

It was not rare to rain in the middle of summer in the forest, but it was not common either. Whenever it did, it would do so in small bursts while the sun shone, nearly always resulting in a rainbow stretching from one end of the forest to the other. Donghyuck’s father welcomed the rainbows; he would say that they were a shield from the sun spirit, protecting their home from bad omens. He believed it to be the truth until the day his son brought an Arendellian to the forest. 

The stalemate feud between the two nations had already surpassed generations, but he had learned from his own father, so his son would learn from him. Every day that Mark resided with his people, he prayed to the sun spirit for a rainbow which never came. He did the next right thing to protect the people he was privileged to lead and ordered Mark to leave, and in doing so he prayed once again for rain to wash away the bad luck. His son did not like him for it and his people seemed to notice the absence, but they were safe and that was most important to him.

On the night of Mark’s departure, the sun set early and there was no moon. He slept and expected to rise and begin the next day as normal, except the sun did not shine when he opened his eyes. When he stepped outside and looked at the sky, there was nothing but deep, impenetrable fog. 

He was not sure how or why it happened, but one thing he knew for certain: the forest needed to be freed, or the magic they relied on would die. 

❆

Mark walked back to Arendelle in a few hours, anxiety growing with each footstep. Donghyuck had looked like he wanted to cry when they parted ways between the pillars of the water and fire spirit, but there was no use in feeling sad; he was sure Donghyuck would forget his existence after some time, and his own feelings for him would gradually fizzle until they disappeared. He wished he could collect Jeno and take him to the forest and they live together with the Northuldra for the rest of their lives, but they both had duties and responsibilities within the castle and the kingdom and it was not possible. Getting his hopes up was deadly.

The air became colder and the winds became stronger the closer he got to Arendelle but long gone were the trees that touched the sky. Instead, ahead and all around him was barren mountainous wasteland, sometimes dotted with snow. The higher altitude had him breathing differently, but as he descended down the hills towards the town he began to see the tips of Arendelle castle poking out from between the cliffs. 

What he expected, of course, was an Arendelle in the beginning of summer with people, life, warmth. It was early June so there would soon be the annual flower festival in the centre of the town, an event which attracted even those from outside the kingdom. Mark watched every year from the confines of his bedroom, wishing for the day he would be able to see it in person.

What he didn't expect, and what he actually could see, was an Arendelle in despair. The flag, normally raised high and proud, was frozen solid, thick with ice. As he approached the kingdom, more of it came into view with the turrets of the castle coated in a layer of heavy ice, and from a distance, the courtyard leading up to the castle steps was one big sheet of ice. 

What had he done?

Even the water fountains outside the castle, normally grand and spectacular that rippled with warm crystal water, were frozen; their pointy, jagged edges made the outline look like a monster, not unlike something in a picture book.

Mark knew this was his doing. After all, everywhere else was the beginning of summer. There was no other way, it was impossible.

He made a pained noise and looked at his bare hands. They hadn't tingled at all since he took off his gloves permanently in the forest, but they did so again as he approached and it made his fingers twitch. 

There was no sign of anyone outside, but lights remained on the castle and in the buildings surrounding it. For two weeks the town of Arendelle had been left to freeze while he selfishly spent time in the sun. 

The walk down the hill to the castle was terrifying because he knew what awaited him at the bottom. Not only did he have to find a way to unfreeze it (which he had never done, he wasn't even sure if he could) but he had to face the wrath of the townsfolk and more importantly, his parents. There's no way they would let it go lightly, since they were in charge and it was their son who caused the problem. 

Mark walked on slowly. 

When he first stepped foot in Arendelle he almost slipped on the sheet of ice that blanketed the ground. Up close, he could see how much damage he actually did: houses had icicles forming under roofs and window ledges, and it had obviously been snowing too. The worst part was that he couldn't remember doing it. 

No one approached him as he walked through the town towards the castle doors, and it was only as he approached the big wooden gates at the front that someone ran out shouting his name. Jeno. 

"Hyung! Hyung!" He crashed into Mark when he reached him and threw his arms around him in the strongest hug Mark ever felt. Mark hugged him back.

"Jeno, I missed you so much." 

"I missed you too." For several seconds they embraced in silence. "Where did you go? Mom forbade me to come and look for you, she wouldn't let me leave. I wanted to, I wanted to so badly." 

Mark sighed softly and patted Jeno's back. "It's okay, I'm okay. I went to the forest, the one with the Northuldra." 

Jeno pulled back from the hug and looked at Mark with wide eyes. "You… what? Why? We know what they're capable of-" 

Mark shook his head before Jeno could finish. "We have it all wrong. None of it is true. They let me stay and eat with them and join in their activities for the last two weeks. They are not dangerous. Father lied to us."

Jeno's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh."

Mark smiled fondly. "Jeno, you would have loved it there. It's amazing. I met this boy, Donghyuck, and-" 

Mark cut off as the gates opened behind Jeno and his mother and the king came into view. His blood went cold. Jeno looked from Mark to their parents with his bottom lip between his teeth. 

"Maybe we should talk inside," Mark said. Jeno shivered from the chill and walked back up the steps to their waiting parents, then Mark did the same. The castle gates shut behind them. The townsfolk closed their curtains, no longer able to observe the reunion from the warmth and comfort of their homes. 

Mark knew this conversation would come when he had to come back to the castle, but the nerves still fizzled inside his tummy. 

"Mark," his father began when all four of them were sat in the study. The door outside was guarded by Renjun and Johnny. "You embarrassed us greatly. Not just at the wedding, but every day since then that you put this winter on us."

Mark went to open his mouth but was silenced by his father's hand. 

"You should not have gotten involved. Taeyong and Yuta had their own problems to solve, and we had stern words with them too."

Mark hung his head. He could feel Jeno shift beside him.

"More importantly, the winter you put on Arendelle is getting worse. Every day it drops by a degree. Mark, please, you must unfreeze it."

Mark lifted his head, frowning and biting his lower lip. "I," he stuttered. "I can't, I don't know how."

His mother looked at him, harsh and judging. This was what Mark was afraid of most.

"You are not leaving the castle again. Not after this."

"But-"

"No." She remained stern, her frown creasing her forehead. Mark felt tears well up in his eyes and stood to his feet. His mother and father leaned back in surprise.

"But I can't live like this anymore!" He pleaded. Donghyuck's words rang in his head over and over. "I'm not a monster and you can't be scared of me forever!"

He sniffed. "I learned to control my powers, just like you wanted. I'm sorry that I couldn't before. I'll find a way to unfreeze the town but please, please don't close the gates again."

And after a bow to both parents, he left the room and made his way to his bedroom. He would not be able to cry in front of them, that would be humiliating, but would do so in private. Renjun jumped as the doors were opened, and he looked like he wanted to ask Mark if he was okay as Mark walked past him, but he didn't.

It was only when Mark was in the privacy of his bedroom that he allowed himself to cry quietly beneath his covers. He pulled the blanket up over his head and laid underneath it so if anyone happened to walk in they would assume he was sleeping. 

Jeno did knock, a little while later. 

"Hyung, can I come in?" 

Mark barely made a sound resembling "yes" but Jeno opened the door and walked in anyway, shutting it behind him. Mark's eyes poked out from under the blanket, red and shiny, so Jeno approached his bed gently and sat at the end of it, like he used to do in the dead of night when nightmares would creep into his brain.

It was quiet for a moment before Jeno spoke.

"They've agreed to leave the gates open. They understand this time." 

Mark chuckled softly and wiped at his eyes. "Isn't that ironic?"

Jeno smiled a little and patted Mark's shoulder over the top of the covers. "Yeah, it really is. We asked them for years to leave. Now you already left, we are finally allowed." 

Jeno shifted so he was more comfortable, bringing his legs and feet up onto the duvet too. 

"Tell me about this boy you met. You mentioned him before we had to come inside." 

Mark's cheeks instantly flushed, though he could've easily blamed it on the tears. Jeno noticed the change of colour and tilted his head to the side with a curious smile. 

"His name is Donghyuck, he's a Northuldra. He's the leader's son, it was him who let me stay. We were together every day, we went fishing, we picked apples, we did so much together. It was his birthday yesterday so the whole community did a lantern ceremony. He was amazing."

"Yeah?" Jeno raised one of his eyebrows. "He sounds nice."

Mark smiled, his tears stopped. "He was. It was because of him I learned how to control my magic. We built a snowman together." 

"Hey, I remember asking you if we could do that when we were younger and you always said no!" 

Mark laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry. I think he was just different." 

Jeno brought his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them, smiling softly. "I'm happy for you, hyung." 

Mark sat up too so he was face level with Jeno and copied his position, arms around his legs. "Too bad I can't see him again." 

"You can leave the castle now, if that didn't sink in-" 

"No, no, I know. But his father, he banned me from going back. To him, we are still at war and he saw me as a threat."

"Ah." Jeno's smile faltered. "Then you'll have to find a way. Maybe it's fate, who knows?"

Mark grabbed his pillow and gently hit Jeno's arm with it with a chuckle. "Maybe you've been reading too many romance novels, who knows?"

❆

Ah-ah. Ah-ah. 

The voice called. It echoed in Mark's head, like whoever it belonged to was singing directly to him. It was high pitched, a voice he had definitely heard but one he couldn't put his finger on. A shiver ran down his spine. 

The night before, he and Jeno ended up falling asleep next to each other after they stayed up and talked all night about his adventures in the forest, and woke up when Renjun knocked on the door and called them both to breakfast. Mark relished in the feeling of waking up under soft, warm bed sheets rather than frozen ones.

The feast the kitchen staff had prepared this morning reminded him of the forest. Various egg and meat dishes, vegetables and a platter of sliced fruit, but it just made his heart hurt. He bowed to his parents as he entered and sat down, and it was there, with fork halfway to his mouth, that he heard the voice.

He dropped it. It clattered on the ceramic plate then bounced onto the floor below the table, food scattering. The three of them looked at him with curiosity. 

"What was that?" He asked.

The king looked confused. "What was what?"

Mark blinked. "The voice, the singing. Didn't you hear it?" 

Each of them shook their head and said no. 

One of the servants retrieved the fork from the floor and handed Mark a clean one from a tray she held, then disappeared into the kitchen. Mark thanked her while fiddling with the new one. “Perhaps I imagined it.”

He caught Jeno’s eye from across the table; he frowned in concern, fork halfway to his mouth, but Mark shook his head. They would talk about this later, away from prying ears. Their parents didn’t need to know.

Breakfast passed. It was three hours later, when he and Jeno had escaped to a private courtyard in the east wing and sat sheltered from the snow fall under a glass canopy, that he heard it again. The voice was beautiful, high pitched but soft; it called to him, but why?

"I heard the voice again." 

Jeno looked at him and then back down to the snowy grass in front of them. "What does it sound like?"

Ah-ah. Ah-ah.

Mark sang it for Jeno, who frowned again and shrugged his shoulders. "How come you can hear it and no one else can?"

Mark thought for a moment. He didn't know the answer to that either, but instinct told him he should be listening to it. He was being told something, he had a feeling, but what? And who was it?

"My magic, maybe. This sounds strange, but it knows that I should listen. My hands are tingling like they used to."

Jeno was clearly confused because he still frowned and gently bit his lower lip, but it didn't matter. He nudged Mark's hand gently. "Then trust your instinct. You're the only one hearing it, so it must mean something."

Mark breathed softly. "You think so?" 

Jeno looked at him and smiled. "Of course. I've always known there was a reason you had these powers, hyung. I just didn't know what the reason was." 

This made Mark smile too. He'd battled for almost his entire life with them, trying to make sense of them and at the same time wishing they didn't exist, but now he learned how to control them, he thought of them as a gift. Jeno's support meant more to him than anything else. 

"Okay. I'll listen." 

Jeno patted him on the shoulder. "Maybe this voice will help you to unfreeze the town."

He nodded, stood and walked out from under the canopy into the thick snow which bundled around his ankles, but didn't bother him. He stood still and looked out over the landscape; the winter was beautiful, undeniably so, because even in natural Arendelle winters it didn't snow this much, but it was dangerous at the same time. His mother's rose buds had wilted and died from the sharp frost, and the townsfolk were being forced to spend their summer inside, sheltered from the cold.

Mark looked back at Jeno, who was shivering now in his thick coat, scarf and gloves. It was a stark reminder that the winter enveloping the town affected everyone but him.

"Let's go inside," Mark said, and Jeno happily agreed.

❆

That night, some time just after midnight, Mark was awoken by the voice again, only this time it was not inside his head. He had been curled on his side fast asleep, and it came from within the room, loud enough to rouse him. He sat up in bed and blinked in the dark, and as he did so a glowing ball of yellow light came into view, small enough that he would be able to grab it with both hands if it was closer. Had this been any other day, he would think he was going mad, but he knew this light was the voice envisioned, and clearly whoever the voice belonged to had a reason for calling out to him. 

He knew this was it. He had to follow it to find the answers. 

He quickly dressed and left his room, startling the night guard who was standing outside. He tried to ask where Mark was going but he ignored him and followed the light to the front gates of the castle. They were locked, of course, and guarded from both inside and outside, but he needed to continue on. 

“Guards,” he said in his most authoritative voice. “Open the gates, I’m leaving the castle.”

“But Your Highness, it’s almost one in the morning-”

Mark silenced the guard with his hand. “It’s important, please.”

The two of them looked conflicted, but they unlocked the gates and tugged them open anyway. “What should we tell the king when he asks your whereabouts in the morning, Your Highness?”

Mark chuckled softly and stepped outside onto the stone steps and began to walk down, faster now that he was outside. “I’m following a ball of sunlight that’s calling to me. I don’t know when I’ll be back. See you later.”

The outside guards were equally astounded to see Mark awake at such an hour, and leaving nonetheless, but they let him go despite their reservations. In the same way no one could hear the voice except him, it seemed no one else could see the light either because neither set of guards reacted to it glowing in front of their faces. They must have thought he was going mad, but he didn’t care.

He followed the light back up the hill that separated Arendelle from the mountains surrounding it. Clearly whoever was calling him wasn’t local.

It hit him when he was halfway up the hill, his way being lit only by the moon in the twilight sky and the light that acted like a torch. The voice sounded familiar because it was; it was Donghyuck’s voice, personified by this pulsating ball of sunlight. How was he able to call to him like this? This seemed advanced even for the Northuldra whose only powers were not even their own. More importantly, why? He hadn’t known Donghyuck for long, but he felt confident saying that Donghyuck would not call him back this way unless there was a reason. An emergency. 

Mark felt his heart begin to race and he started to run, not caring that his lungs were struggling. The light floated ahead, increasing in speed as Mark also did. 

Ah-ah. Ah-ah. 

The singing only spurred him on faster, though he stopped intermittently to catch his breath before continuing on, determined. As he got closer to the forest the ball grew in size, almost like it was affirming that this was the right path, but the closer he got the more nervous he felt. What if whatever Donghyuck was calling him for, he couldn't do?

But he was here for a reason. He had already come so far. He couldn't go back now even if he wanted to.

The ball of light led him to the four pillars guarding the entrance, but instead of sky-high trees and hoots of an owl he could see nothing but thick fog and hear nothing but silence. One last ah-ah ah-ah came from the ball of light before it ascended into the night sky, disappearing from view when it was high enough, and Mark was plunged into darkness with only the distant moon shining on him. 

He breathed softly. It was the only noise he could hear. 

He took a few steps forward, almost at the fog, and held out his hand so he could touch it. It was wet, like he imagined rain would feel on grass, but as he tried to walk forward more, it threw him back with such force he tripped over his own feet and landed on his butt.

He blinked. This was the reason Donghyuck called to him. The fog was too thick, too strong for the spirits to handle. He had to fight it for them.

Mark stared at his hands, illuminated in pale white from the moon. They tingled gently, like his magic knew what awaited them. 

Could he do this? The strongest instance of his magic was that of the winter he placed on Arendelle in a fit of rage, but that was an accident. He was angry and hurt back then, not just from the wedding but with himself; would he have been able to do it intentionally? 

He stood, took a deep breath, pushed his hands forward and from his palms shot two pale blue streaks of ice which blasted holes in the fog, small but powerful. Mark exhaled, summoned more magic from within him and did it again, this time stronger, and the fog quivered from the force of the second blast.

It made two more holes, larger than the first two, almost large enough to climb through, but it wasn't enough.

Mark spread his fingers and wiggled them. The tingling grew in intensity, like the feeling of pins and needles following numb skin. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard on what he had to do, then opened them again and directed the strongest blast he could at the stubborn fog. It opened a passage through the middle, and as Mark walked towards it he sent smaller ice blasts in all directions, weakening the fog from the outside.

He climbed inside and sent more ice blasts upwards, enough for the light of the moon to shine through in a single, bright beam. With each blast that hit the fog, it got weaker and weaker, with more holes allowing more light to infiltrate it. The gaps made it easier for him to see where he was going as he walked further into the forest, but he was frustrated. The fog was resisting.

He summoned the same strength that hit the forest hard enough to create the tunnel in the first place, spread both arms wide and sent his magic hurtling in as many directions as he could then watched, amazed, as each spear of ice shook the fog so hard it trembled. 

It evaporated around him right before his eyes; he stared as the fog rose into thin air and disappeared, leaving nothing behind but a chill and dew beneath his feet. 

“I did it?” He whispered to himself, eyes wide in awe. 

“You did it.” Donghyuck’s voice was suddenly there, right next to him, and Mark spun to face him. He had never looked so innocent, with such sparkle in his eyes that it rivaled the sky above them. 

They stared at each other for a moment before Mark, exhausted, boldly stepped forward and brought Donghyuck into a tight hug. It seemed to startle Donghyuck because he made a noise of surprise and couldn’t say much else, but after a few seconds his arms closed around Mark’s back and they stayed together in the embrace for longer than Mark could count.

“Thank you, Mark, so much. I can’t believe it worked.”

“The voice, the ball of light. That was you, right?”

Donghyuck nodded against Mark’s shoulder, and detached from the hug, but only so he could speak directly to him.

“I didn’t know it would work. Or if it was even possible. I just,” he paused and sighed softly, smiling, “I just wished for it.”

“How did you do it?”

Donghyuck stepped forward, slid his arm into Mark’s, and tugged gently so they walked back to the camp, slowly, together.

“When I told you about the spirits that guard this forest, I wasn’t… completely honest. There are four physical ones, which you’ve seen. But there is a fifth one that we regard as the most powerful of all. And for that reason, it doesn’t have a physical form. Or so we thought.”

He paused. Their shoes made sticks crack as they walked on them.

“The earth, wind, water and fire spirits are already powerful on their own, even more so as a four, but they are nothing if they don’t receive energy from the sun. The sun is the reason we are all here, the reason we are still able to use the magic. We are known as the people of the sun. The sun is our fifth spirit. It gives life to the physical spirits, the food we eat, and obviously us by extension. That is why it’s so powerful.”

Mark listened.

“Yesterday night after my father told you to leave, that fog came in and it was so thick it blocked the sunlight, and nothing could leave or enter. We tried. I have a lot of bruises to show for it.”

He chuckled and twisted his arm to show off a large bruise on the back of it. 

“The physical spirits were trapped with us, so we couldn’t ask them for help. The only spirit outside of the forest was the sun. My ancestors believed the sun spirit had a physical form and it’s said that they managed to summon it only a handful of times, but no living person in our community has ever seen it, despite trying.”

They were approaching the camp, so Donghyuck slowed so he could continue talking.

“It’s said to be called Haechan. It means “full sun” in our ancient language. You have to call to the spirit when you need it most, and it picks its battles very carefully. As I said, I wasn’t sure it would work. I wasn’t even sure if I believed in it or not. But it’s real. You heard me.”

It all sounded very surreal to Mark, but then Donghyuck laughed softly, slid his hand down the rest of Mark’s arm until their palms touched, then walked into the camp where, to Mark’s surprise, everyone else was awake. 

They swarmed around Mark no sooner had he stepped into the vicinity. Some of the elders kissed his cheeks in thanks, while others chose to touch his shoulder which seemed to be a sign of solidarity among the Northuldra. He was not used to being coddled or touched so much, but it ignited another fire in his heart.

“Mark,” said Donghyuck’s father. For the first time since Mark had met him, he seemed relaxed. At ease. “Mark, I cannot thank you enough. It was wrong of me to assume you had bad intentions coming here.”

He touched Mark’s shoulder too and held his hand there for a few moments. It was the first time he had ever been nice to Mark.

“You are welcome at any time.” 

Mark glanced at Donghyuck from the corner of his eye, who was smiling so wide it looked like it hurt, and when Donghyuck met his gaze he knew he felt nothing but pure adoration for him. And the strangest thing was that he felt it back. Donghyuck radiated warmth and happiness and in this particular moment, admiration. 

“Thank you, sir. It means a lot to me.”

He bowed to him, and as Mark bent forward he clasped Donghyuck’s hand in his own. His father left after that and the rest of the Northuldra disappeared too, probably to finally sleep now the fog had lifted, so Donghyuck led Mark to sit in front of the extinguished fire.

“I hope you know you are never leaving again. We can’t risk the fog coming back.”

Mark smiled softly and shook his head. “I think I scared it off. I don’t think it will ever come back.”

Donghyuck chuckled and rested his head on Mark’s shoulder. Mark tilted his head as he did, just enough to brush his lips against Donghyuck’s cheek in what was (almost) a kiss, though when Donghyuck did the same thing he did not waste the opportunity to kiss Mark on the lips instead.

Mark had never been kissed before so he wasn’t sure if the tiny sparks crawling up his spine were a good thing or a bad thing, but he did know he wanted to do it again and again and again, if Donghyuck allowed him to.

“Will you come back to Arendelle with me? I want you to meet my brother.”

He tilted his head up just enough to smile at Mark and nod. “Of course, I would love to.”

❆

By the time they got back to Arendelle, it was almost dawn. The sun rose over the eastern mountains and glimmered spectacularly on the frozen ground, like a dusting of tiny diamonds. It had stopped snowing and it definitely felt a little warmer, but for good measure he brought Donghyuck down the hill and into the town, and when they stood together, hands joined, in full view of the castle and all the villagers, the ice began to melt away under his feet and the flag began to fly again.

“It’s a shame, winter is pretty.” Donghyuck watched the ice disappear with a smile on his face.

“But not in June,” Mark said.

“No, that I agree with.” 

The townsfolk came out of their houses one by one after that, not only to confirm that the winter was gone but to get a glimpse of the boy Mark held hands with, though they seemed more surprised at Donghyuck’s Northuldra clothing than anything else. He ignored their whispers and led Donghyuck to the castle. 

His father was waiting at the stone steps when Mark approached with Donghyuck.

“Mark, do you have any idea what you’re doing? He’s a Northuldra for goodness sake, I told you-”

“Lies,” he interrupted. “You told me lies, father.”

Mark spoke loud enough for the townsfolk to hear, for some had gathered below the steps to witness the confrontation. “You lied to Jeno and I our whole lives to make us fear the Northuldra, and to make your people scared of them too. I lived with them for two weeks and they gave me a bed, food and friendship. They are not dangerous.”

“Mark-”

“I know you tried to colonise the forest, father. I know you tried to steal the magic. And your people deserve to know the truth.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Mark embarrassed the king, but of course this time was the most damaging. When the people of Arendelle thought the royal family was a laughing stock for having a failed marriage and a sorcerer son, it didn’t really do that much for their reputation. But knowing their king lied to not only his own family, but the people who he was born and entrusted to lead, that didn’t go quite so well. It took the people of Arendelle a long time to trust him and his word again, but at least there was no conflict.

The king and Donghyuck’s father signed a treaty of peace, on the condition that the Northuldra could live peacefully in the forest, free from war, but they would welcome any Arendellian that visited. Similarly, Arendelle (and the castle gates, to Mark and Jeno’s relief) would remain open.

The people of Arendelle learned to accept Mark’s magic eventually, just like Donghyuck said they would, and they became accustomed to Donghyuck’s presence in the town on a regular basis. He was the only Northuldra that visited, and when he did he would go straight to the castle and emerge some time later with Mark, hand in hand. The people of Arendelle also learned to accept that their oldest prince would journey to the forest in the same way, and return happier every time, glowing, as if the sun had been warming his soul.

And, well, perhaps it had.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> since this is now my second disney-inspired au i decided to make this into a series (with my peter pan au) so i'm hoping to write more of this in the future. i do have some ideas for beauty and the beast, the little mermaid and alice in wonderland, so which one would you like to read the most?
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/inj4nie?s=09).


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